ID :
206537
Sun, 09/11/2011 - 18:23
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/206537
The shortlink copeid
Japan to report to IAEA on efforts to enhance nuclear regulation
Japan will report to the International Atomic Energy Agency later this month its latest efforts to improve its nuclear regulatory system, including plans to create a new nuclear safety agency and a nuclear safety training institute, the government said Sunday.
''We would like to show how we are working on regulation issues,'' nuclear disaster minister Goshi Hosono told a press conference after the government endorsed a new report on the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, which will soon be submitted to the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
It is the second report compiled by the Japanese government and to be forwarded to the IAEA, detailing the situation at the crisis-hit plant and lessons learned from the disaster. The latest report will be presented at a side event of the IAEA general conference on Sept. 19.
In an outline of the report, the government touched on its decision made last month to separate the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency from the industry ministry by creating a new nuclear regulatory body under the Environment Ministry by April next year.
The move came as public confidence in the current nuclear regulatory body was shaken by its failure to prevent the disaster at the Fukushima plant, while major criticism focused on problems caused by having regulators under the industry ministry, which also promotes nuclear power.
The report stressed the ''vital importance'' of training more nuclear safety personnel to respond to another nuclear crisis and referred to an idea to establish what it tentatively called an International Nuclear Safety Training Institute.
The institute, the creation of which should be deliberated by the new government nuclear safety regulatory body to be established by next April, would seek to improve the quality of nuclear regulators within Japan and may also invite people from abroad to contribute to global nuclear safety, the report and a government official said.
The report also said work to contain the crisis is proceeding steadily, but ''several more months'' are needed to bring damaged reactors to a more stable condition known as ''cold shutdown.''
Hit by a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunami on March 11, the Fukushima nuclear plant lost nearly all its power sources, and consequently the ability to cool the reactors and spent fuel pools at the Nos. 1 to 4 units.
As a result, temperatures soared along with a build-up of hydrogen gas, leading to catastrophic explosions which badly damaged three of the four reactor buildings and the release of a large amount of radioactive material in the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.
Workers have now installed a new water circulation system to cool the crippled reactors, marking some progress in bringing the plant to a stable condition.
The government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. seek to achieve a cold shutdown of the plant by January at the latest.
As for long-term issues, the report pointed to the task of removing the melted fuel from the reactors, storing and disposing of it, but did not elaborate.
The utility known as TEPCO separately said Sunday that it has succeeded in reducing the amount of highly radioactive water accumulating in the plant's two reactor turbine buildings to the target level.
''We would like to show how we are working on regulation issues,'' nuclear disaster minister Goshi Hosono told a press conference after the government endorsed a new report on the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, which will soon be submitted to the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
It is the second report compiled by the Japanese government and to be forwarded to the IAEA, detailing the situation at the crisis-hit plant and lessons learned from the disaster. The latest report will be presented at a side event of the IAEA general conference on Sept. 19.
In an outline of the report, the government touched on its decision made last month to separate the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency from the industry ministry by creating a new nuclear regulatory body under the Environment Ministry by April next year.
The move came as public confidence in the current nuclear regulatory body was shaken by its failure to prevent the disaster at the Fukushima plant, while major criticism focused on problems caused by having regulators under the industry ministry, which also promotes nuclear power.
The report stressed the ''vital importance'' of training more nuclear safety personnel to respond to another nuclear crisis and referred to an idea to establish what it tentatively called an International Nuclear Safety Training Institute.
The institute, the creation of which should be deliberated by the new government nuclear safety regulatory body to be established by next April, would seek to improve the quality of nuclear regulators within Japan and may also invite people from abroad to contribute to global nuclear safety, the report and a government official said.
The report also said work to contain the crisis is proceeding steadily, but ''several more months'' are needed to bring damaged reactors to a more stable condition known as ''cold shutdown.''
Hit by a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunami on March 11, the Fukushima nuclear plant lost nearly all its power sources, and consequently the ability to cool the reactors and spent fuel pools at the Nos. 1 to 4 units.
As a result, temperatures soared along with a build-up of hydrogen gas, leading to catastrophic explosions which badly damaged three of the four reactor buildings and the release of a large amount of radioactive material in the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.
Workers have now installed a new water circulation system to cool the crippled reactors, marking some progress in bringing the plant to a stable condition.
The government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. seek to achieve a cold shutdown of the plant by January at the latest.
As for long-term issues, the report pointed to the task of removing the melted fuel from the reactors, storing and disposing of it, but did not elaborate.
The utility known as TEPCO separately said Sunday that it has succeeded in reducing the amount of highly radioactive water accumulating in the plant's two reactor turbine buildings to the target level.
