nuclear-news

Is Japanese government really committed to independent nuclear regulation?

Japan fails to revamp nuclear regulator, Aljazeera, Cabinet had endorsed bill to create a powerful and independent body by April 1 to unify safety and regulatory roles.  03 Apr 2012  Japan has failed to create a revamped nuclear regulatory agency by the promised date of April 1, raising questions about its commitment to bolster oversight in the wake of last year’s crisis.... Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s cabinet has
endorsed a bill to create a more powerful and independent regulatory
body that would unify various nuclear safety and regulatory offices
and be placed under the environment agency.

In-depth coverage one year after triple disaster
Currently, the main regulatory body, the Nuclear Industrial and Safety
Agency (NISA), is under the control of the Ministry of Economy, Trade
and Industry, which also promotes nuclear power in the resource-poor
country…. This news comes less than one week after Japanese media
reported that radiation levels inside one of the containment vessels
at the Fukushima powerplant are so high that even robots fail to
function correctly. The 73 sieverts per hour of radiation would cause
their measurement instruments to malfunction.

Errors and regrets

Previous investigations into the Fukushima accident have found
evidence of lax supervision by NISA, cozy relations with utilities and
delays in upgrading safety measures.

On Monday, an NSC member told the same parliamentary committee that
NISA repeatedly tried to block her commission’s efforts in 2006 to
upgrade nuclear accident management plans, saying it would cause
unnecessary safety concerns and additional costs. …

April 4, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general