EDITORIAL: Government must ensure independence of new nuclear watchdog

The new nuclear safety agency being set up by the government to regulate nuclear power plants is to be classified as an extra-ministerial bureau of the Environment Ministry.

Some members of the government had proposed putting the watchdog body under the jurisdiction of the Cabinet Office.

In the end, the Environment Ministry was chosen, mainly for two reasons. For one, nuclear regulation has much in common with environmental regulation. And the procedures for creating a new agency are simpler for the Environment Ministry than for the Cabinet Office, where responsibility tends to be dispersed because of the wide range of functions the office performs.

The decision to make the Environment Ministry primarily responsible for regulating the nuclear power industry is significant.

It spells an end to the long-standing national policy of promoting nuclear power generation.

The former Ministry of International Trade and Industry (now the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) and the former Science and Technology Agency (which has been integrated into the education ministry) spearheaded efforts to expand nuclear power generation in Japan.

Since the central government reorganization in 2001, the bodies that replaced them have played the leading role in regulating the nuclear power industry.

Even though the private sector has gained more power and capability over the years, the government represented the main engine in the push to promote nuclear power generation. In doing so, it allowed affiliated bodies to supervise the sector.

This resulted in what is known as the nuclear power village, a close-knit community of bureaucrats, scientists and businesspeople with vested interests in promoting nuclear power. The upshot of all this was inadequate safety measures.

The entire nuclear regulatory system will now be rebuilt from scratch. This will be accomplished by giving the watchdog role to a ministry whose principal mission is environmental protection.

This must be a first step in the shift in focus of the government's nuclear power policy from promotion to regulation.

The other ramification of the decision is this: It finally puts an end to the "safety myth" surrounding nuclear power plants; that a serious nuclear accident is unlikely to occur in Japan due to multiple layers of safeguards put in place.

The move to make nuclear power a target of environmental regulation is tantamount to acknowledging that nuclear technology can cause widespread environmental destruction once a serious accident occurs.

The government's nuclear regulation policy in the future should be based firmly on this viewpoint.

The government needs to put much energy into efforts to monitor levels of radiation and keep them as low as possible, even in normal times, let alone during the work to decontaminate areas around the quake-stricken Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant.

During a Cabinet meeting to discuss issues related to the new regulatory body, some members said it should be named the nuclear regulatory agency instead of the nuclear safety agency.

We support this proposal as a way to drive home the fact that the new body will perform different functions from those bodies that handled nuclear regulation in the past.

The biggest challenge for the new agency will be to secure its independence. In Kasumigaseki, Tokyo's administrative district where ministries and agencies are locked in fierce rivalry to expand their powers and interests, the Environment Ministry is admittedly a relatively weak force.

The question is whether the new watchdog will have the will and the power to resist pressure from politicians and other government organizations and fulfill its role as the guardian of nuclear safety if an emergency flares.

If an accident does occur, the agency will have to develop effective strategies to deal with the situation and ensure swift and integrated responses by coordinating the actions by various ministries and agencies.

It is also vital for the agency to keep on top of the changing situation and disclose relevant information to audiences both at home and abroad in a timely and appropriate manner. The new agency must figure out how it can best work with the prime minister's office.

Details concerning the new agency's organization and roles will be worked out by a task force to be set up soon, possibly by the end of August.

A sweeping review of nuclear safety standards and regulations is also imperative. To establish a new nuclear regulatory regime expediently, the government needs to address a mountain of issues without delay. A steady hand is important for the challenge.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 16