Evacuation plans should come under NRA' s responsibility

September 23, 2015

Editorial: Nuclear evacuation plans must be subject to NRA inspections

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/perspectives/news/20150923p2a00m0na006000c.html

Just three years have passed since the government launched the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), based on lessons learned from the Fukushima nuclear crisis. The government claims the nuclear watchdog is a highly independent and transparent organization.

The NRA's attitude of placing top priority on the safety of nuclear power plants in inspections it conducts under new regulatory standards, such as requiring electric power companies to assume that stronger earthquakes could hit their nuclear power stations, deserves appreciation.

Evacuation plans for local residents in the event of a nuclear accident, however, are not subject to NRA inspections; they are left entirely to the discretion of local governments of the areas that host such power stations. The NRA should strengthen its inspections on nuclear plants to fulfill its mission of protecting people and the environment.

A supplementary provision to the Act for Establishment of the Nuclear Regulation Authority calls for a review of the NRA within three years, and the executive branch of the government and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) have been considering the matter.

Attention has been focused on whether to change rules stipulating that while nuclear reactors should be operated for no longer than 40 years, their lifespan can be extended by up to 20 years if they pass NRA screening. The body's reviews of measures to prevent disasters at nuclear power stations are also under scrutiny.

Some legislators promoting the use of atomic power argue that there is no scientific basis for setting the lifespan of nuclear reactors at 40 years. However, since the NRA has just begun screening utilities' applications to extend the lifespans of their reactors, the government decided not to review this 40-year limit. This is an appropriate judgment, as aging nuclear reactors should be decommissioned.

With regard to measures to prevent disasters at nuclear power stations, the government has deemed the establishment in October last year of a new organization within the Cabinet Office to support local governments' anti-nuclear disaster measures as sufficient. However, serious questions remain about this judgment.

Nine municipalities around the Sendai Nuclear Power Plant in Kagoshima Prefecture, whose No. 1 reactor resumed operations in August this year, have drawn up measures with the prefectural government to respond to an accident at the power station, including evacuation plans. But these local bodies are not expected to conduct evacuation drills until the end of this year. They should have conducted such drills before the reactivation of the reactor to examine the effectiveness of the plans. This back-to-front approach is attributable largely to the fact that evacuation plans are not subject to inspections by the NRA.

In the United States, measures to handle a nuclear plant accident are subject to inspections by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Local governments hosting atomic power stations and other bodies conduct evacuation drills before such plants begin operations, and the NRC decides whether to permit operations at nuclear plants after examining the results of the drills.

The Japanese government should amend relevant legislation and regulations to require the NRA to inspect evacuation plans in the event of a nuclear accident and empower the authority to halt operations at such plants if evacuation plans are deemed ineffective.

At the same time, the NRA should secure sufficient human resources at its secretariat and enhance its own ability to communicate with the public.

Staff members of the NRA secretariat attend briefing sessions for residents of areas hosting nuclear plants that have passed inspections if requested by the relevant local governments, but none of the five commissioners of the NRA have attended such gatherings. Niigata Gov. Hirohiko Izumida asked NRA Chairman Shunichi Tanaka last month to hold regular consultations between the National Governors' Association and the NRA, but the authority has not responded to the governor's request.

The NRA is not an organization that guarantees the safety of nuclear power plants. Still, if the commissioners explain their attitude toward inspections and the basis for their judgments on the safety of nuclear reactors, then the authority can win the public's confidence.