Convention on Nuclear Safety

CONVENTION ON NUCLEAR SAFETY

By Anton Antonio

January 7, 2016

Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions that release nuclear energy to generate heat, which most frequently is then used in steam turbines to produce electricity in a nuclear power station.  The term includes nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion.

“The Convention on Nuclear Safety is a 1994 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) treaty that governs safety rules at nuclear power plants in state parties to the Convention.  The Convention creates obligations on state parties to implement certain safety rules and standards at all civil facilities related to nuclear energy.  These include issues of site selection; design and construction; operation and safety verification; and emergency preparedness.  The Convention was adopted in Vienna, Austria, at an IAEA diplomatic conference on 17 June 1994.  It was opened for signature on 20 September 1994 and has been signed by 65 states; it entered into force on 24 October 1996 after it had been ratified by 22 signatories.  As of July 2015, there are 78 state parties to the Convention plus the European Atomic Energy Community.  The states that have signed the treaty but have not ratified it include Algeria, Cuba, Egypt, Ghana, Iceland, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Monaco, Morocco, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Philippines, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and Uruguay.”  (Wikipedia)

A lot of people, including the hardcore pro-environment advocates and activists, are opposed to nuclear energy.  Although nuclear energy is arguably a cheap source of power, the opposition to this form of energy is anchored on the many nuclear accidents and disasters that put nuclear energy in a very bad light… such as the serious nuclear power plant accidents at Fukushima Daiichi in 2011, Chernobyl in 1986 and Three Mile Island in 1979.  Throw-in the long-term impact of the bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, the scenario looks really very grim for nuclear energy.  We could all feel better that there exists a Convention on Nuclear Safety.

Thoughts to promote positive action…

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REFERENCE:

Wikipedia, (2016).  “Convention on Nuclear Safety”.  Retrieved on January 7, 2016 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_Nuclear_Safety