“Comply” with safety standards says Lithuanian president
The final day of a two-day long conference focusing on EU-Asia dialogue on nuclear safety has started in Vilnius, Lithuania
Speaking on the first day of the Second ASEM Seminar on Nuclear Safety “International Instruments for Ensuring Nuclear Safety,” the President of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaitė, stressed that nuclear power could be safe and friendly to the environment only if the highest standards of safety and security were met. “Every country in the world must comply with nuclear safety standards”, Grybauskaitė said. Lithuania’s Presidency of the European Union Council has emphasised the importance of ensuring nuclear safety worldwide.
Adding his thoughts the Lithuanian Foreign Vice-Minister Rolandas Kriščiūnas spoke on behalf of the Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Linas Linkevičius, saying “Nuclear power development is an integral part of the effort to ensure that international instruments for ensuring nuclear safety are applied”. He continued his address to the participants of the event by stating that “the ultimate goal is to enhance nuclear safety at the global level, which will inevitably lead to a certain strengthening of the existing international instruments.”
The seminar is focusing on national and regional instruments facilitating the implementation of nuclear safety. The participants are sharing best practices in the field of regional co-operation and it is hoped that such co-operation in Europe (the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group) could set an example of regional co-operation to Asia.
The participants of the event represent more than twenty European and Asian countries as well as the European Commission, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Nuclear Energy Agency, the World Association of Nuclear Operators and other international organisations.
Horizon 2020’s contributions to the EURATOM programme will focus on nuclear safety, in addition to fuel cycle and waste management.
