The worst nuclear disaster in Japan earlier this year reminded the international community of the need to cooperate for both safe use of atomic energy and nuclear disarmament, the key agendas for the upcoming global security summit to be held here next year, a former chief of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said.
Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant suffered massive radiation leaks after it was struck by an earthquake and tsunami last March, the world's worst nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
"Fukushima is a bump in the nuclear road but not the end of it," Hans Blix, former chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told reporters in downtown Seoul Monday.
Blix, also a former Swedish foreign minister, arrived here Monday for a three-day visit to participate in the first meeting of the "Eminent Persons Group" set for Tuesday. The group's 15 former leaders and ministers from all over the world will advise South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on nuclear security issues in the run-up to a global summit on the theme to be hosted by Seoul next March.
The second Nuclear Security Summit slated for March 26 and 27 in Seoul will bring together some 50 world leaders discuss how to prevent terrorists and other non-state actors from getting hold of potentially harmful nuclear materials.
"The nuclear power is an indispensable part of no- and low-carbon dioxide energies we must expand. No energy is obtained with zero risks," Blix said, stressing that risks from the source is relatively low especially in environmental terms. (Yonhap)