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IAEA for action on lessons from Japan

SINGAPORE: The International Atomic Energy Agency on Friday expressed “urgency” and “determination” to take “appropriate action” on the basis of lessons from the civil nuclear accident at the quake-and-tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan.

Amid such a rising global consensus, the authorities in Fukushima prefecture announced plans to distribute dosimeters to tens of thousands of schoolchildren. The objective was to continuously monitor their exposure to nuclear radiation at the grassroots and take follow-up action. However, parents continued to express concern over the public health hazard their children were exposed to.

On radiation concerns in the wider East Asian region, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said in Tokyo on Friday that a Chinese research ship was detected within the Japanese exclusive economic zone. Mr. Edano said China should have first contacted Japan about any radiation concerns even if the ship was sent for collecting seawater samples in that regard.

On a related front, IAEA Director-General Yukia Amano told the concluding session of an international ministerial conference in Vienna on Friday that there was “widespread support … to systematically review the safety of all nuclear power plants.”

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