To ensure transparency, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) on Nov. 8 began releasing on its website exchanges with utility companies over assessments of how earthquake and tsunami resistant nuclear reactors are.
To ensure transparency, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) on Nov. 8 began releasing on its website exchanges with utility companies over assessments of how earthquake and tsunami resistant nuclear reactors are.
"I gave instructions that the agency and utilities should communicate in written documents, and that those documents should be made public," Yukio Edano, minister of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), which oversees NISA, told a news conference on Nov. 8 after a Cabinet meeting.
The website carried NISA's instructions on Nov. 4 to Kansai Electric Power Co., which submitted reports on its own safety evaluation of the No. 3 reactor at the Oi nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture.
NISA called on the utility to make additional assessments that take into account the safety of facilities storing fire-fighting pumps and fuel for power source vehicles at the plant.
Nuclear reactors that have been offline for regular maintenance are required to clear before they restart what is called a "stress test," introduced by the government after the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
The test assesses through computer simulations how much safety cushion a nuclear reactor has against a powerful quake and tsunami at expected levels and beyond.
The NISA will also accept questions and requests from the public on the technological aspect of assessments made by utilities.
The website is at http://www.nisa.meti.go.jp/stresstest/stresstest.html.