Emerging framework of safety management after Fukushima accident

Since the Fukushima accident onset, concerned organizations and experts have tried to identify the causes and effects of the incident. Many have formulated new national regulatory measures to strengthen nuclear safety in an effort to protect the general public to the extent of probabilistic cases of the most severe or extreme accidents. The Japanese government is set to install a regulatory authority, comparable to the US NRC, which is completely independent from the promotion of nuclear energy. An official report of the National Diet (or Senate) of Japan in June of 2012 laments a lack of safety culture and insists the accident could have been prevented if due consideration and attention had been provided. Both France and other European countries have performed stress tests to their operating units, and have identified many areas for improvement including that of their regulatory framework. The US NRC also conducted special inspections of all operating reactors. In addition, the NRC established both near and long term specific goals, and issued a policy statement for streamlining patch worked regulatory framework. It is also applying the Risk informed Defense in Depth Design which includes the extended design basis requirements. The IAEA General Conference adopted a Nuclear Safety Action Plan in September 2011 and organized an International Expert Meeting in March 2012 in order to analyze all relevant technical aspects from the Japanese incident in order to prevent a reoccurrence. Korea is not an exception to this trend. She was swift to conduct a special inspection of operating reactors and is now implementing many scheduled measures. Numerous facts and insights are now available, not only those gained from the Japanese incident, but also those gleaned from experts worldwide concerning a wide array of information. Therefore, this is an opportunistic time to summarize the insights that have been identified with respect to nuclear safety management and to overview what is occurring in numerous countries