The first international agreement on nuclear safety has gone into effect, requiring the 27 countries that have ratified it to ensure their civilian nuclear reactors meet the agreed standards.
The convention is aimed primarily at lessening the threat of potentially hazardous reactors in areas of the former Soviet Union - particularly the graphite-cooled models such as the reactor at Chernobyl, Ukraine, site of the world's worst civilian nuclear accident 10 years ago.The U.N.-sponsored convention "signals the growing recognition of the global interdependence of safe nuclear development," said Hans Blix, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in a statement Thursday when the agreement entered into force.
Altogether, 65 states including the United States have signed the Convention on Nuclear Safety, which requires states to submit to regular international reviews of their nuclear safety conditions. They also agreed to close unsafe plants that cannot be upgraded quickly.
So far, the legislatures of 27 signatory states have ratified the convention.