Meeting between Pierre-Franck Chevet, ASN President and Yukiya Amano, IAEA Director General

Pierre-Franck Chevet, President of the Autorité de sûreté nucléaire (ASN), received Yukiya Amano, Director General of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) in the ASN Headquarters on 20 November, on the occasion of his two-day visit to Paris (19-20 November).

This meeting was an opportunity to discuss the IAEA post-Fukushima Ministerial Conference, which will be held in Japan from 14 to 17 December 2012.

Among the topics covered by Mr Chevet and Mr Amano were the question of experience feedback from the Fukushima accident and the need for international work and more wide-ranging exchanges, by means of the peer review mechanism. The lessons learned from the stress tests performed in Europe were also discussed.

They highlighted the importance of implementing the IAEA action plan on nuclear safety, adopted by the Board of Governors in September 2011, the aim of which was to ensure a detailed in-depth analysis of the Fukushima accident and the lessons to be learned, in order to enhance safety internationally. The IAEA post-Fukushima Ministerial Conference will be an opportunity to confirm the determination of the various States to give absolute priority to safety.

Mr Chevet emphasised ASN’s willingness to contribute its expertise to the post-accident management phase. He in particular underlined the fact that ASN was ready to share with Japan the experience it acquired through setting up a steering committee to define a management doctrine for the post-accident phase of a nuclear accident or radiological emergency situation (CODIRPA).

Press contact: Evangelia Petit, head of press department, tel.: 01 40 19 86 61, evangelia.petit@asn.fr