16 March 2011 – At a hearing organised by France's Office for Scientific and Technological Choices, OECD/NEA Director-General Luis Echávarri declared that the NEA had offered its complete assistance to the Japanese government in its areas of expertise. In the current emergency situation at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, bilateral co-operation with countries having the same technology or considerably advanced experience, such as the United States and France, would probably be very effective for Japan.
Mr. Echávarri confirmed that the Japanese government has requested the IAEA assistance, that the IAEA has responded and that the NEA is supporting these international efforts.
Mr. Echávarri noted that the NEA will carry out as soon as possible analyses of the events and lessons to be learnt with regards to nuclear safety and radiological protection. He added that the external events were particularly extreme and compounded in this case. He stressed the need for a global evaluation of the various causes of the accident, as well as any other questions regarding resistance to extreme events, geographical locations, plant cooling systems, hydrogen explosions and fires, bearing in mind that nuclear safety authorities around the world are already in the process of integrating lessons learnt from the events in Japan.
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