EDITORIAL: New nuclear regulatory body must be powerful, independent

The government has unveiled a draft plan to restructure its nuclear regulatory organizations and functions in a crucial policy response to the disastrous accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The plan would create a new nuclear regulatory body, tentatively named "the nuclear safety agency," by separating the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and integrating its operations with those of the Nuclear Safety Commission at the Cabinet Office and the nuclear power-related functions at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. NISA, which regulates the nuclear power industry, should not have been part of the industry ministry, which has been promoting nuclear power generation, in the first place. It has also been revealed that the agency asked electric power companies to ensure that proponents of nuclear power generation would speak at meetings to explain plans for building nuclear plants to local residents. It is a matter of course to separate the agency from the ministry. As for the issue of which government department the new agency should belong to, however, the reorganization plan cites two candidates--the Environment Ministry and the Cabinet Office--because there has yet to be a consensus within the Cabinet on the matter. Which of the two is better suited to have the envisioned new agency under its jurisdiction? There are both pros and cons of each candidate. What is vital is to clearly define the role and status of the new agency under the revamped nuclear regulatory regime. Under the government's traditional policy of expanding nuclear power generation, the regulatory body was relegated to the role of simply giving the official seal of approval to plans to build and operate new nuclear power stations. But the administration of Prime Minister Naoto Kan has announced a clear shift in the policy by pledging to take steps toward reducing Japan's dependence on nuclear power. The new agency will have to perform new functions to phase out nuclear power generation in this nation. We have proposed to begin this process by scrapping aged reactors and facilities that cannot be regarded as sufficiently guarded against major earthquakes and other disasters. The new agency should play the leading role in identifying such high-risk facilities for decommissioning. The Nuclear Safety Commission had the power to make recommendations to the ministries and agencies concerned through the prime minister. How to secure such independence and authority for the new body is another key issue that demands careful and in-depth debate. The new nuclear watchdog's personnel are just as important for its performance as its organization. Most of the employees at the new agency will come from the existing organizations. The mind-set of all these people should be radically changed so that they will become committed to their new mission without being influenced by their previous workplace. For this purpose, it is necessary for the agency to break with the government's traditional personnel policy, which dictates that senior positions are distributed among insiders who have long been working for the organization. It should assign key posts in each section to newcomers, including those recruited from the private sector. It is also crucial to establish a personnel management system that focuses on a commitment to performance evaluation and effectively motivates all employees to carry out their tasks with a sense of responsibility. To fundamentally reinvent its energy policy, the government also needs to embark on major reforms at METI and the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy. The government should not forget that separating NISA from the ministry and setting up a new independent watchdog will only be the first step in the much-needed overhaul of the nuclear regulatory regime. --The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 7