Although safety concerns have accompanied the development of nuclear power for commercial use since it began over 60 years ago, the nuclear energy industry's safety record compares well against other forms of energy production. If we look at the number of accidents having more than 5 fatalities in electricity generation chains between 1969 and 2000, the direct fatalities resulting from nuclear power accidents are relatively few when compared to other major energy sources.

Direct Fatalities Resulting from Electricity Generation Energy Chain OECD countries Non OECD countries Fatalities Fatalities /TWy Fatalities Fatalities/TWy Coal 2,259 157 18,000 597 Natural Gas 1,043 85 1,000 111 Hydro 14 3 30,000 10,285 Nuclear 0 0 31 48

During over 14,700 cumulative reactor-years of commercial operation in 32 countries, there have been three major accidents at nuclear power stations. These accidents aroused extensive concerns and resulted in a call for concerted global efforts to further enhance nuclear safety. In their effort to maintain continuous safety improvement for nuclear power station, the international nuclear community also incorporates lessons taken from these accidents into the overall safety improvement programmes.