nuclear-news

Japan’s proposed new nuclear safety chief worried about independence

U.S. energy official voices concern over zero nuclear energy target, Japan Times, 14 Sept 12, Jiji..…..Authority head worried Kyodo FUKUSHIMA — Radiation physicist Shunichi Tanaka said Thursday his slated appointment without parliamentary approval as head of the new nuclear regulatory body may compromise its political independence.

“Ironically, I feel that (the new body’s) political independence is
still insufficient,” Tanaka told reporters in the city of Fukushima.

Fearing that Tanaka’s nomination could be turned down at a Diet
session that ended last week, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda refrained
from seeking the Diet’s approval, choosing instead to use his
authority to appoint Tanaka as head of the Nuclear Regulation
Authority as of next week.

The new body has been designed as a more independent, stronger
regulatory body than the existing Nuclear and Industry Safety Agency,
following the March 2011 accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear
plant.

Tanaka said he would like to promptly toughen Japan’s nuclear
regulations, which have trailed international standards.

At an earlier meeting with Fukushima Vice Gov. Masao Uchibori, Tanaka
said he will resign as the prefecture’s radioactive decontamination
adviser and concentrate his energy into his new work at the regulatory
body.

Tanaka, who hails from the city of Fukushima, has frequently visited
the prefecture for radioactive decontamination operations since the
nuclear disaster began.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120914b1.html

September 15, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, politics