Soltanieh: IAEA Nuclear Safety Conference was of high significance

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Vienna, June 24, IRNA -- Iran’s IAEA envoy, Ali-Asghar Soltanieh, says Iran had a high-level representation in the IAEA Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Safety in Vienna, which was of special significance in the post-Fokoshima nuclear power plant incident era.

Soltanieh, speaking in an exclusive interview with IRNA after the IAEA Ministerial Conference, said three specialized groups worked in different fields throughout the conference, in which ministers read out their statements, that had been prepared and approved in many working sessions over the past couple of months.

He said the meeting investigated the Fokoshima incident and presented practical solutions to the problem, devised plans to avoid recurrence of such incidents and presented emergency measures in that respect, drawing up a global framework in cooperation with all states to upgrade safety standards.

The Iranian envoy said each of the three groups presented to the final session the abstract of the technical and scientific papers read out in the sessions.

“But these are not legally binding in fact because experts from the countries represented in the meeting raised their own opinions. The core of all the subjects in common was in fact raised in the meetings. An executive plan, comprising the issues that were presented by experts and technicians and reflecting the ministers’ statements, is going to be prepared until when the annual conference is held,” he added.

The executive plan, he said, will be raised on the hope for approval in the Annual Conference, slated for September, so as to upgrade safety standards and check eruption of nuclear incidents.