End of NISA and NSC

September 18, 2012

Japan's two nuclear safety bodies to be scrapped for replacement

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20120918p2g00m0dm082000c.html

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's key government entities that have been in charge of nuclear safety regulations are set to be scrapped at midnight Tuesday prior to the launch of a new regulatory authority.

The government has decided to revamp the current regulatory setup involving the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency and the Nuclear Safety Commission, a body overseeing the activities of NISA, as they have not proved capable enough in preventing and dealing with the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster last year.

While regretting that NISA, which is under the wing of the industry ministry, failed to prevent the devastating accident, Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yukio Edano said he wants regulators assigned to serve for the new regulatory body to "fulfill the duties they did not achieve when they were in NISA."

As NISA will be replaced with the Nuclear Regulation Authority, some 350 members from NISA are expected to be transferred to the new organization's secretariat, according to a government official.

Meanwhile, the Nuclear Safety Commission also held its final meeting the same day, ending its 34-year-old history.

In a statement, the five-member commission admitted the country has "intentionally avoided explicit discussions about the potential risks accompanying nuclear power generation" and ended up not working sufficiently to compile specific measures to protect people from radiation risks.

It also said that, from now on, a regulatory organization should check whether utilities have not only satisfied safety standards but are making efforts to pursue the highest safety level.

The government has decided to create a new regulatory body that has greater independence than the existing one, aiming to prevent close relations between regulators and promoters of atomic power, which are said to have caused safety matters to be neglected.

The new body would also take on related tasks that have been carried out by other organizations, such as the NSC and the environmental radiation monitoring functions of the science ministry.

Haruki Madarame, chair of the NSC, told a press conference that the commission's role to double check the activities of NISA was not necessarily working efficiently and welcomed the government's move to unify regulatory functions.