The IAEA´s latest review of nuclear and radiation safety finds that improvements achieved through global cooperation strengthen nuclear safety worldwide. The review highlights developments related to safe uses of nuclear and radiation technologies in energy, medical, and other fields.
The IAEA Nuclear Safety Review (NSR) - prepared annually for the IAEA´s Member States - covers areas relating to nuclear power plants, research reactors, radioactive waste, transport of radioactive material, medical applications of radiation technologies, and emergency preparedness, among others. The 2008 edition includes a review of activities worldwide in the area of safety, and lists IAEA Safety Standards published as of the end of 2008.
Selected highlights follow:
Nuclear Power for Electricity Generation. Nuclear power plant operators "continued to show strong safety performance in 2008, with no serious accidents or significant radiation exposure to workers or the public to report," the NSR says. For countries looking to start or expand nuclear power generation, the report emphasizes developments related to building and sustaining an effective nuclear safety infrastructure.
Reports of Radiation-Related Incidents. Through various reporting mechanisms, the IAEA was informed of 140 safety-related events involving or suspected of involving ionizing radiation. Response actions by the IAEA included authenticating and verifying information and providing official information or assistance. Most of the events were found to have no safety significance and/or no radiological impact to people or the environment; the NSR includes a selected list of reported events.
One reporting system is the Nuclear Events Web Based System (NEWS), a joint project of the IAEA, the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the World Association of Nuclear Operators. NEWS covers significant events at nuclear power plants, research reactors, nuclear fuel cycle facilities, as well as occurrences involving radiation sources and the transport of radioactive material. The general public can access information submitted during the previous six months through the IAEA website.
Research Reactors. Research reactors around the world continued to be operated safely in 2008 and there were no serious accidents, the NSR says. More countries are using the IAEA Code of Conduct on the Safety of Research Reactors to guide their research reactor activities. The NSR notes that the loss of experienced staff due to retirement "continues to be compounded by the difficulty of recruiting new personnel and is still a critical issue in some research reactor facilities." Also cited as an area requiring more action is the decommissioning of research reactors.
Medical Radiation Exposure. Over the past decade, medical radiation exposures have increased at a "remarkable rate," the NSR says. The medical use of ionizing radiation is rapidly evolving, with increasingly advanced medical technologies and a growing complexity of techniques. Many countries continue to find it difficult to manage or control medical radiation exposures, the report says. It emphasizes that patient doses have decreased (and image quality increased) where extended quality assurance programmes have been put into place.
Medical applications are the main source of radiation exposure from human activities, for patients and practitioners. More than half of all radiation exposed workers are now in the medical field, the NSR notes. Almost 4 billion medical and dental radiation procedures are carried out annually around the world, with over 90% of these being diagnostic X-ray examinations. In some developed countries, medical exposure now equals or exceeds that from natural background radiation, the report says.
Safety Peer Reviews. Among international activities, the NSR cites the peer review meeting in 2008 of Contracting Parties to the Convention on Nuclear Safety. The Parties cited progress in safety areas, and struck a cautionary note: They emphasized that "the worldwide nuclear industry and regulators must avoid complacency regarding nuclear safety" and noted that all the Convention´s Contracting Parties were taking steps to further enhance safety.