From 17 to 20 March 2014, experts will share and discuss best practices in mitigating the impact of nuclear disasters at an International Experts' Meeting (IEM) on Severe Accident Management in the Light of the Accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Held at IAEA headquarters in Vienna, the meeting will address how to deal with nuclear emergencies and provide necessary assistance, and review lessons learned from past accidents. More than 200 participants, representing 48 IAEA Member States and four international organizations, will take part at the expert-level meeting.
The meeting is the seventh in a series of expert meetings held to promote the implementation of the IAEA Action Plan on Nuclear Safety, which includes several steps to strengthen nuclear safety worldwide in light of the March 2011 accident at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. Dubbed IEM7, it follows another expert meeting, on Radiation Protection After the Fukushima Daiichi Accident: Promoting Confidence and Understanding, also held at the IAEA from 17 to 21 February 2014.
IEM7 will run for four days and will be divided into a plenary session and several parallel working sessions.
The plenary session will include keynote presentations by experts from the IAEA and other international organizations, as well as from Japan and other IAEA Member States, and will focus on national responses to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. The plenary session will provide an opportunity to take a retrospective look at what has been achieved since the accident and to summarize the work that remains in the area of severe accident management. Presentations are also expected from industry, regulatory representatives, emergency management organizations and technical support organizations, thus offering a broad global vision on severe accident management and emergency response in the light of the Fukushima Daiichi accident.
The parallel working sessions will feature presentations and discussions by international experts and participants on the technical and regulatory aspects of severe accident management, including considerations of emergency response. They will revolve along these five major themes:
- Enhancements to severe accident management guidelines;
- Regulatory issues related to severe accident management;
- Effective implementation of severe accident management guidelines;
- On-site emergency response planning and interface with severe accident management guidelines; and
- Off-site emergency response for severe accidents in the presence of extreme natural events.
Summaries of all the technical presentations and discussions, including lessons learned, and recommendations for further activities, will be presented on Thursday, at the closing session of the IEM.