Improvements in safety proposed by the Nuclear Regulation Authority could see Japan's nuclear plants acquire safeguards recommended by the International Atomic Energy Agency in 1996 but ignored by officials who believed the calamitous events of March 2011 could never occur.
Improvements in safety proposed by the Nuclear Regulation Authority could see Japan's nuclear plants acquire safeguards recommended by the International Atomic Energy Agency in 1996 but ignored by officials who believed the calamitous events of March 2011 could never occur.
Further underscoring Japan's error, some of the measures proposed are those that European nations began implementing as far back as the 1980s. It took the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant to push Japan into raising its safety standards to international levels.
NRA officials proudly portray the new proposals as the tightest standards in the world. They involve cutting-edge science. And if all the measures are implemented, safety at Japan's nuclear plants will improve.
However, not one of Japan's nuclear reactors is currently close to complying with all proposed requirements.
Because it will take time to install some of the new safety mechanisms, the NRA plans to allow a grace period for some equipment in some situations and to allow reactor restarts before retrofitting work is complete.
There will now be debate about that grace period and other matters. Such discussion should be kept to a minimum. Even with full implementation, the risk of a severe accident will always remain.
The safety standards are nothing more than a minimum for electric power companies to abide by. The utilities will be expected to show initiative and eagerness to elevate the safety of their reactors to an even higher level.
"It would be wrong to think that safety can be secured just by following the standards laid out," said Toyoshi Fuketa, an NRA commissioner who was involved in compiling the new safety standards.
A lazy attitude by electric power companies led to delays in improving safety before the Fukushima nuclear accident and arguably contributed to it.
If Japan is to continue relying on nuclear energy, the new safety standards should only be a starting point. By incorporating the latest knowledge and technology, electric power companies and the NRA will have to make constant improvements toward ever-greater safety.