Countries seek nuclear stress tests after Japan crisis

Government ministers and officials from nearly 30 nuclear energy producing countries called on Tuesday for safety tests on all reactors, after the disaster at Japan's Fukushima plant sparked concern over standards. A majority of delegates at talks hosted under France's G20 chairmanship supported stress tests that would determine how well nuclear plants could withstand major disasters, like the earthquake and tsunami that rocked Fukushima in March.
"The Fukushima accident in Japan shook us all and the need arose very quickly to draw lessons, to improve and lift our standards and co-operation on nuclear safety," French Environment Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet told a news conference after chairing the talks. Group of Eight leaders agreed at a summit in France last month that more stringent nuclear safety rules were needed.
Currently, there are no mandatory, international nuclear safety regulations, only recommendations from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which national regulators are in charge of enforcing. "Stress test or resilience tests are a first priority to identify vulnerabilities," said Germany's Deputy Environment Minister, Ursula Heinen-Esser, adding reviewing and strengthening international conventions was the next step. The meeting, co-hosted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operations and Development, aimed to hammer out a common ground among major nuclear producing countries ahead of an IAEA ministerial meeting on June 20-24 in Vienna.