Initiatives brought by president of the Russian Federation for reinforcing international nuclear safety legislation

On June 20, 2011, at IAEA's Ministerial Conference, which was assembled in connection with the recent accident at the Fukushima-1 nuclear plant in Japan, the Russian delegation officially introduced a series of proposals aimed at reinforcing the international legal framework in the field of nuclear safety, based on international initiatives of the President of the Russian Federation. The proposals, in particular, envisage: responsibility of the government for timeless and sufficiency of measures undertaken in response to an accident in order to minimize its consequences; creation of regulatory provisions to coordinate and provide for interaction between the government, the utility and the regulator in the circumstances of accident management and in mitigation of its consequences; responsibility of the country in ensuring that level of nuclear safety is at least as good as prescribed by the IAEA standards, and that the country has available emergency response action plans; expanding the scope of information that is to be provided about a nuclear accident