nuclear-news

Hasty appointment by Japan’s PM of new nuclear safety agency

Noda’s appointment of nuclear watchdog chief inevitable The Yomiuri Shimbun, 13 Sept 12,  A nuclear regulatory commission must be established as soon as possible to reconstruct the nation’s nuclear safety administration.

At a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, the government decided to establish the commission next Wednesday. The chairman and four other posts will be appointed by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda based on a law that allows for the appointment of the nuclear watchdog’s members without obtaining Diet approval.

Personnel appointment without Diet approval is not desirable. But considering that the legal deadline for establishing the agency is Sept. 26, the government will have no choice but to take this exceptional step.

There was no vote held on a personnel plan for the commission during the ordinary Diet session that ended last week because of differences within the Democratic Party of Japan.

Former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and former Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Kazuhiro Haraguchi, a candidate in the forthcoming party presidential election, and some other DPJ members called for replacing the proposed personnel with people who do not belong to the so-called nuclear power village……
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/editorial/T120912003426.htm

September 13, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, politics