ID :
200940
Fri, 08/12/2011 - 18:39
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/200940
The shortlink copeid
Cabinet members OK new nuclear agency under Environment Ministry
TOKYO, Aug. 12 Kyodo - Prime Minister Naoto Kan and relevant Cabinet members agreed on Friday to set up a new agency in charge of nuclear safety under the Environment Ministry in the wake of the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
The Cabinet is expected to formally approve the decision Monday. With a view to creating the new entity in April next year, the government plans to set up a preliminary panel as early as within the month and submit related legislation during the ordinary parliamentary session starting in January.
Kan said toward the end of a meeting with the Cabinet ministers concerned that they had agreed on a ''very important direction'' in handling nuclear safety regulation by integrating existing functions.
In a bid to undertake a major overhaul of Japan's nuclear regulatory framework, Kan has been calling for the separation of the current Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, which promotes the use of atomic energy.
The current setup of the nuclear safety agency under the industry ministry has been criticized for lax government supervision of nuclear facilities and a slow response to the Fukushima power plant crisis triggered by the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
After the meeting at the prime minister's office, Goshi Hosono, minister in charge of the nuclear crisis, told reporters that they had decided to integrate the functions of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency and the Cabinet Office's Nuclear Safety Commission, and set up a new entity under the Environment Ministry.
Hosono, who was instructed by Kan to draft a set of ideas to improve nuclear safety, said that placing the new agency under the Environment Ministry, instead of the Cabinet Office as he had considered, will yield a ''good outcome'' in nuclear safety regulation.
Hosono said it would be better to ''launch a new organization completely under the Environment Ministry than to deal with lingering concern over personnel working at the Cabinet Office'' while being careful about their actions in relation to their former ministries or agencies.
The minister was referring to concerns that the Cabinet Office may not be able to ensure independence from the industry ministry as the ministry loans its staff to the office.
He added the Environment Ministry's new responsibilities would be similar to its involvement in key environmental regulation measures in the past, such as its work on air pollution and water contamination.
Kan and the ministers also agreed to fully transfer radiation and other environmental monitoring functions from the science ministry to the new entity, said Hosono, who also voiced hope that the chief of the new agency would be someone who is adept in ''crisis management.''
The new setup ''will regulate and not promote nuclear power'' and as such ''needs to show the public that it is focusing on ensuring their safety,'' Environment Minister Satsuki Eda told a news conference prior to the decision.
Hosono had been pushing for the new agency to be placed under the Environment Ministry, but the idea of placing it under the Cabinet Office was floated by some government officials who argued that doing so would make coordination easier with the prime minister's office during an emergency such as a nuclear accident.
Critics have argued that the Environment Ministry lacks expertise on nuclear power necessary to fulfill its role as nuclear regulator.
Hosono said various government ministries and agencies will initially have to dispatch their nuclear experts to the new entity until it can train its own experts.
The Cabinet is expected to formally approve the decision Monday. With a view to creating the new entity in April next year, the government plans to set up a preliminary panel as early as within the month and submit related legislation during the ordinary parliamentary session starting in January.
Kan said toward the end of a meeting with the Cabinet ministers concerned that they had agreed on a ''very important direction'' in handling nuclear safety regulation by integrating existing functions.
In a bid to undertake a major overhaul of Japan's nuclear regulatory framework, Kan has been calling for the separation of the current Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, which promotes the use of atomic energy.
The current setup of the nuclear safety agency under the industry ministry has been criticized for lax government supervision of nuclear facilities and a slow response to the Fukushima power plant crisis triggered by the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
After the meeting at the prime minister's office, Goshi Hosono, minister in charge of the nuclear crisis, told reporters that they had decided to integrate the functions of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency and the Cabinet Office's Nuclear Safety Commission, and set up a new entity under the Environment Ministry.
Hosono, who was instructed by Kan to draft a set of ideas to improve nuclear safety, said that placing the new agency under the Environment Ministry, instead of the Cabinet Office as he had considered, will yield a ''good outcome'' in nuclear safety regulation.
Hosono said it would be better to ''launch a new organization completely under the Environment Ministry than to deal with lingering concern over personnel working at the Cabinet Office'' while being careful about their actions in relation to their former ministries or agencies.
The minister was referring to concerns that the Cabinet Office may not be able to ensure independence from the industry ministry as the ministry loans its staff to the office.
He added the Environment Ministry's new responsibilities would be similar to its involvement in key environmental regulation measures in the past, such as its work on air pollution and water contamination.
Kan and the ministers also agreed to fully transfer radiation and other environmental monitoring functions from the science ministry to the new entity, said Hosono, who also voiced hope that the chief of the new agency would be someone who is adept in ''crisis management.''
The new setup ''will regulate and not promote nuclear power'' and as such ''needs to show the public that it is focusing on ensuring their safety,'' Environment Minister Satsuki Eda told a news conference prior to the decision.
Hosono had been pushing for the new agency to be placed under the Environment Ministry, but the idea of placing it under the Cabinet Office was floated by some government officials who argued that doing so would make coordination easier with the prime minister's office during an emergency such as a nuclear accident.
Critics have argued that the Environment Ministry lacks expertise on nuclear power necessary to fulfill its role as nuclear regulator.
Hosono said various government ministries and agencies will initially have to dispatch their nuclear experts to the new entity until it can train its own experts.
