Wang Yiren, head of China Atomic Energy Authority and the leader of the Chinese delegation, addresses the Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Safety in Vienna, Austria, on June 20, 2011. China on Monday called on the international community to take urgent measures to address nuclear safety. Wang made the appeal at the conference in Vienna. (Xinhua Photo)

China on Monday called on the international community to take urgent measures to address nuclear safety.

Wang Yiren, head of China Atomic Energy Authority, made the appeal at a ministerial conference on nuclear safety hosted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna.

"It is an important and urgent mission before us to draw lessons from Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident and strengthen international cooperation in nuclear safety to jointly promote safe development of nuclear energy," Wang told the conference.

Wang, who is the leader of the Chinese delegation, said lessons should be drawn from the nuclear crisis in Japan and a full review should be made under the IAEA's auspices on technical risks, management system, decision-making mechanism, mitigation measures, emergency response and information circulation both before and after an accident.

Meanwhile, global nuclear safety standards should be improved, Wang said, adding that the IAEA should give priority to the review of standards on site selection of nuclear power plants.

More stringent requirements should be imposed on nuclear power plant sites prone to earthquakes or other natural disasters, he added.

Wang also called on the international community to strengthen the sharing and exchange of information on nuclear safety, and stressed the necessity to give full play to the leading role of the IAEA in global nuclear safety cooperation.

The IAEA should help promote the establishment of regional centers of nuclear emergency response so that the member states could be able to support each other and share resources when nuclear accidents happen.

Wang also said the Chinese government attaches great importance to nuclear safety and always insists on the safety-first principle.

"China will draw lessons from the Fukushima nuclear accident, take appropriate measures to further increase the capacity of nuclear facilities to respond to extreme natural disasters and improve its nuclear emergency response capabilities," he said.