UN agency tackles post-Fukushima safety, Iran

VIENNA: A global safety "action plan" in the wake of Japan's Fukushima disaster and growing suspicions that Iran is developing nuclear weapons will dominate a meeting of the UN atomic watchdog next week.

Also in focus for the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) board of governors in Vienna from Monday to Friday will be Syria, North Korea and tentative first steps towards a Middle East free of nuclear weapons.

The scale of the March 11 disaster at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant, the worst since Chernobyl in 1986, made many worry about the safety of nuclear power, with the IAEA convening a special ministerial conference in June.

Yukiya Amano, IAEA Japanese director general, was charged with drawing up ways to learn from Fukushima and to propose in light of the devastating accident steps to ensure that the world's some 440 nuclear reactors in 30 countries are safe.

According to a draft seen by AFP, the 12-point plan encourages fresh assessments of nuclear plants and of how well countries are prepared for emergencies, as well as more "peer reviews" of reactors by foreign experts.

For some diplomats, however, Amano's proposals have been watered down too much, most notably by Washington and Beijing, by for example stopping short of making these visits mandatory.

The board will also be given a new and critical report on Iran's nuclear activities, which many Western countries suspect are aimed at developing nuclear weapons but which the Islamic republic says are peaceful.

According to a draft report seen by AFP, the watchdog is "increasingly concerned" about "activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile".

Syria will also be a talking point for the IAEA board, three months after reporting Damascus to the Security Council over a desert site -- bombed by Israel in 2007 -- that the agency said was "very likely" a covert reactor.

Of greater concern though is North Korea, which has conducted two nuclear tests. It kicked out IAEA inspectors in 2009 and is suspected of supplying equipment, materials and know-how to Syria and Libya.

Another topic will be preparations for a November forum in Vienna on creating a nuclear-weapons-free Middle East after some countries in the volatile region showed a willingness to attend after a decade of stonewalling.