Bednárik, Richard; Šimuláková, Kristína: IAEA and its response to Fukushima disaster


The situation after the earthquake and destruction of four nuclear reactors afterwards was serious blast against nuclear energy and nuclear safety. It was the biggest disaster after Chernobyl from 1986 and it opened wide discussion about the future of nuclear energy not only in Japan but worldwide. What can we do to improve the safety? Shouldn´t we stop nuclear power completely? These were the questions, which were heard the most.

 In our paper we are providing analysis of Fukushima disaster and response of IAEA. First part of the paper is devoted to the description of the situation, where we are focusing on the damage of the nuclear reactors and its impact on the surrounding area.

 Second part of the paper is dealing with comparison of two major nuclear events, which were Chernobyl and Fukushima. We are aiming the scope of view of the reader to the scale of the disaster and describing the response of IAEA to the first mentioned catastrophe.

 The major part is focusing on the IAEA response. We have to always bear in mind the status of the Agency, which is international organization, that cannot take completely the responsibility of the state or company. We are providing the description of the major response, which can be seen in the way of personal visits, providing cooperating among various organizations and organizing help for devastated area, but on the other hand also in sending special monitoring teams to help measure the radioactivity of the area and contamination of food. Fact-finding mission of IAEA was responsible for actual description of events after the earthquake and later on, which resulted in extensive report of the mission.

Inevitable and very important section of this part is the description of the Action plan as a reaction of international community on mistakes made when talking about emergency preparedness and response and imperfections of power plants from the last decades.

Whether we like it or not, the Fukushima disaster, with great possibility will not change or forbid the use of nuclear energy. For many countries it is one of the cheapest and cleanest source of energy guarantying their energy independence, while taking the risk of responsibility if something goes wrong. The possible impact might be seen mostly in the field of nuclear safety and decommissioning of the old power plant, which are far beyond normal safety standards. Later on, we will probably see the world without nuclear power plant, but for this moment we have to wait few more decades.