Fukushima nuclear crisis tops agenda at UN disaster meet

GENEVA, Switzerland — The specter of a nuclear disaster should be on the minds of the delegates of the United Nations’ Third Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction which kicked off Tuesday. UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon set this agenda in his opening address by telling disaster management experts and stakeholders from around the world that the Fukushima incident has made the issue of nuclear safety paramount. He stressed that the meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear plant after a devastating earthquake hit Japan’s Sendai region is evidence of a "new nexus between natural disasters and nuclear safety." "The tragedy at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant illuminates a 21st century reality. Climate change means more incidents of freak and increasingly severe weather. With the number of nuclear energy facilities scheduled to increase substantially in the coming decades, our vulnerability will grow," Ban told the delegates. He said the incident has proven there are "large gaps in nuclear safety." "We must ensure that nuclear plants can withstand multiple hazards," Ban said. The Secretary General also called on delegates to craft policies that promote nuclear safety that he could present to a high-level UN General Assembly meeting to be held in September in New York and a nuclear energy summit meeting next year in Korea. Particularly, he said experts should look at safety standards of nuclear power plants, the staff training and regulatory oversight for possible gaps in nuclear safety. Ban said the most effective response is "to strengthen sharing" between regional and international stakeholders that is integrated with specified knowledge like nuclear science. He added that there is a critical need to forge stronger partnerships with the nuclear industry, adding that nuclear energy has the capacity to improve human well-being through use in the fields of medicine, agriculture and others. But the secretary general said there should be a balance between the benefits and the risks. "Let us risk-proof development. It is better to connect disaster risk reduction with sustainable development," he said. — RSJ, GMA News