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At the plenary session of the House of Representatives on May 29, deliberations started on: a proposal to partially amend the Act for Establishment of the Ministry of the Environment and other legislation to reform the organization and system for the ensuring of nuclear safety and establish the Nuclear Regulatory Agency (the nuclear safety reform proposal); a proposal to establish the Nuclear Safety Investigation Committee; and other legislation. With regard to the nuclear safety reform proposal, parallel deliberations are taking place on the government’s proposal and the counterproposal of the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito.
Minister for the Restoration from and Prevention of Nuclear Accident Goshi Hosono explained the purpose of the government’s proposal. Hosono stated that the accident at Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Fukushima Nuclear Power Station caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake had significantly eroded both domestic and international trust in Japan’s nuclear safety administration, noting that, “it is a pressing issue to rebuild the nuclear safety administrative system.” Hosono stated that in line with this recognition, in order to restore trust and strengthen administrative functions related to nuclear safety: 1) responsibilities for the control of nuclear regulation and use would be thoroughly separated by removing the nuclear safety regulation section of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; 2) the functions of other ministries relevant to ensuring nuclear safety would be reorganized or unified; 3) a nuclear regulatory agency would be established within the Ministry of the Environment that would ensure a swift response in case of an accident, while maintaining independence as a regulatory organization; and 4) reviews of the nuclear safety regulatory system and other systems would be conducted.
Diet member Ikuo Yamahana stated, “The cause of the accident must be understood and analyzed, and reforms must be undertaken based on remorse to ensure that such an accident never happens again.” Yamahana then asked Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and others to state their opinions on the organizational reform and regulatory system review based on the priority of protecting the people.
Noda said, “Trust in the existing nuclear safety administration has significantly eroded, in which the promotion of nuclear use and regulation were performed by the same organization. In order to never repeat such an accident, a drastic reform of the organization and system is necessary, standing on the principle of protecting people and the environment from radiation.”
Asked whether the establishment of a regulatory agency would ensure that similar accidents could be avoided, Hosono underscored, “Beginning with tsunami measures, every effort will be made to ensure safety by incorporating new technological findings if any are obtained, including for nuclear facilities which are already in operation.”
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