Japan plans new atomic regulator by September | WPN World People News

After months of delay, the Lower House of parliament Friday approved a legislation for setting up a new nuclear regulator by September of this year.

Paving the way for the passage of the new legislation, the ruling and opposition parties had come to an agreement on Wednesday (June 14) to create a new nuclear regulatory commission with greater independence from the government.

There however is as yet no clarity on the question of the maximum operational life of reactors.

After months of arguing the opposing political parties have agreed that the new regulating commission will have the choice to change the rules that currently limit the use of a nuclear reactor to 40 years.

Out of Japan's 50 nuclear reactors, over a dozen more than 30 years old, while another three have already been in operation for close to 40 years.

The Noda Cabinet's original nuclear safety reform bills said reactors should be decommissioned after 40 years in service, although extensions of up to 20 years may be granted in exceptional cases. That provision followed a similar setup in the United States.

Even as large a large percentage of Japanese are urging the government to move away from nuclear power to environment friendly and sustainable power generation option, the new law aimed at extending the life of a nuclear reactor seems to be a step in the opposite direction, Japanese media reports stated.

The new law for creating a new nuclear regulatory agency to serve as a secretariat for the commission is meant to be a step towards improving safety measures and attempting to restore the public's trust after the terrible Fukushima nuclear crisis last year.

The post 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster investigations had unraveled a cozy mutually beneficial relationships between utility companies, regulators, and politicians, putting .

The new law, expected to be approved by the upper house, would create a five-member independent nuclear regulatory commission. It will be independent from the government's Ministry of Trade, whose Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) has been heavily criticized for their oversight.

In due course the new commission would be handling all the responsibilities of NISA.

Many local leaders in Japan's western Kansai region had called for the creation of a new regulatory agency as a requirement for restarting the nuclear reactors in Oi, Fukui Prefecture.

With the opposition demand having been in part met by the new legislation, there are expectations that Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will approve by weekend the restart of two reactors operated by Kansai Electric Power Co at the Ohi plant in western Japan, before a potential summer power crunch.

Industry minister Yukio Edano told a news conference that until the regulator was functioning, safety checks required before restarts would be handled under existing procedures. That was likely to fan charges that Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's government is too pro-nuclear.

However, the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party criticized the provision, arguing that it is unreasonable to impose a flat limit of 40 years.

The new legislation will say that the operational life of reactors will be limited, in principle, to 40 years, but will include a caveat saying that the new regulatory commission, upon inauguration, should "promptly review" the 40-year provision.

The commission is expected to be inaugurated by the end of September.

Under the current setup, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency inspects the safety of nuclear reactors 30 years after they are first put online and may grant extensions every 10 years.

Source: The Japan News.Net