"There are many ideas in the air. I think most of those ideas will float in the air during the June conference," the IAEA's head of nuclear safety and security Denis Flory told journalists, when asked about the need for a real nuclear safety watchdog.

"It will be a high-level conference with people who have the power to decide, to push forward."

"It will be up to them to decide where do we go, how far do we go in changing the regime, if there is a need to change the regime," he said.

Commonly described as the UN's atomic watchdog, the IAEA has come under fire since the start of the nuclear crisis in Japan, with critics complaining it was slow to act or provide accurate information.

However, under the agency's statutes, its main task is "to promote safe, secure and peaceful nuclear technologies", and it has no powers to legally enforce the safety standards it draws up for countries wishing to move into nuclear power.

This mandate can be modified if the agency's 151 member states agree.

The IAEA is to hold a ministerial-level summit in Vienna on June 20-24 to try to examine the lessons learned from the ongoing nuclear crisis in Japan.

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