News & Events

May 12, 2011—In the wake of events in Japan, the head of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations has proposed an international organization for emergency response to accidents at nuclear energy facilities.

“Events of the last few weeks have clearly shown the benefits of significantly improving site-specific plans while moving beyond them to establish and formalize a national and even international response capability worthy of the name,” James Ellis, INPO’s president and CEO, told attendees at NEI’s Nuclear Energy Assembly this week.

Formed after the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island, INPO is an industry-established organization that rigorously promotes excellence in nuclear energy facility safety and operations.

The accident at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant and particularly the international response, Ellis said, demonstrated the need for an emergency response team “with all the discipline, rigor, resources and commitment to excellence that has brought success to our focus on operational performance.”

Ellis proposed “a robust, highly capable response team with pre-staged equipment [that is] interoperable both domestically and internationally. This nuclear emergency response organization could be a powerful and collaborative effort in which the U.S. nuclear industry could visibly take a leading role both domestically and internationally across a broad spectrum of disaster recovery, transcending just nuclear response.”

“Fukushima Daiichi laid bare some significant gaps in our performance and effectiveness as a global industry,” he said, adding that a nuclear emergency in Japan affects the American industry.

“We must establish by personal commitment to global nuclear standards with international accountability. We must hold each other accountable for outcomes not aspirations,” he said.

Ellis did not reference French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who made a similar proposal regarding standardized international regulations while visiting Japan. Ellis instead pointed to efforts by the World Association of Nuclear Operators to provide a broader mission for itself. (See the related story in this week’s Nuclear Energy Overview.) Ellis, who sits on WANO’s board, said he saw its efforts as “rising to a higher level of effectiveness and accountability.”

“Success in this [WANO] effort will send a clear and powerful signal,” said Ellis. “So will failure.”

Ellis also pointed to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s conference next month on international nuclear standards. He said the conference would be a venue for diplomats and regulators, but that “it must be informed by technical and operations experts to find the sweet spot between national sovereignty and international accountability.”

—Nuclear Energy Overview