Japan nuclear regulator advisers fear loss of its independence

Sorry, did I miss something?

"Japan nuclear regulator advisers fear loss of its independence"

...loss of its independence... Really ????

I think that ship has sailed.

In the wake of Fukushima, the Japanese government and the entire nuclear zoku 族 were completely paralyzed and essentially surrendered the leadership to a bunch of foreign experts, mostly American. The Americans gave face to the Japanese through a broad ranging operation Tomodachi (so how come the SDF could not re-open Sendai Airport?) and continued to provide advice and assistance.

Now the Japanese are taking the last steps to ensure the sovereignty and supremacy of the nuclear zoku with the chief of the zoku, Abe Shinzo, bound and determined to throw on the switches and to shroud everything under a secrecy law that will continue to hide and obfuscate ignorance, deceit, and incompetence.

One day Biwako will not be able to supply water because some accident will occur in Fukui. Why do you think Kyoto and Shiga (and others in the Kansai) are not necessarily all that eager to turn on the switches?

“Indeed, given the problems associated with the previous regulatory structure, we suspect the maintenance of a clearly independent regulator is likely to be essential to the restoration of public confidence in nuclear power.”

Seems completely logical. Which is why Japan will go in the opposite direction.

Independence? Satoru Tanaka, the commissioner of the NRA appointed by Abe, is well know to have received payments from the nuclear industry and several other members have ties to the nuclear village.

http://www.straight.com/news/665951/post-fukushima-nuke-watchdog-outrages-japanese

No news here. Move along, please.

liarsnfoolsFeb. 22, 2015 - 07:04AM JST In the wake of Fukushima, the Japanese government and the entire nuclear zoku 族 were completely paralyzed and essentially surrendered the leadership to a bunch of foreign experts, mostly American.

And what followed was disaster after disaster, and one idiotic decision after the other. Is your narrative trying to paint America as the saviour here or the bumbling idiot?

Now the Japanese are taking the last steps to ensure the sovereignty and supremacy of the nuclear zoku with the chief of the zoku, Abe Shinzo, bound and determined to throw on the switches and to shroud everything under a secrecy law that will continue to hide and obfuscate ignorance, deceit, and incompetence.

Indeed he is.. and that's a move directly from the U.S. government playbook.

“We are concerned about any transfer of authority that would serve to compromise the regulator’s independence,” the document said.

Are they really afraid of losing their independence? Or, are they just afraid of having to fully comply with commonsense directives from international experts?

"Those pesky gaijin are sticking their nose in Japan business again! The awesome right-wing leader Abe has already told the world, "It is under control!" Why can't they believe him and leave us alone?"

interesting- in the USA the NRC is a supposedly independent agency of the US - but all commissioners are appointed by the president and the NRC has been found to cozy up nicely with business

and of course the French are appointed by their government as well

so the only thing that is being given up is foreign oversight of the nuclear power agencies in Japan- this will mean that contracts will go to Japanese companies instead of foreign ones - which is what would happen if the oversight stays outside.

The horrendous response to the 3/11 disaster should have proved that Japan needs decades of help in nuclear oversight from abroad.

I think that ship has sailed.

turbo,

I don't think the boat ever existed!

Japan clearly was planning to PRETEND to do something, the good ole Perception more important than REALITY trick that it plays for the locals day in day out!

Now Japan will try to nudge these gaijin towards NRT & onto planes outta here so the govt can simply go back to ignoring its people & do what they think is good for J-inc.

HUGE FRIGGING MISTAKE!!!

Why on earth the oldest reactors aren't already in their 2nd 3rd years of decommissioning is a CRIME! Clearly the use of nuke plants isn't even being remotely evaluated using any common sense.

As I have said before for starters Japan MUST Start HERE:

1 any nuke plants past their planned lifespan ---- DECOMISSION

2 Any nuke plant within 10yrs of its expected lifespan ---- DECOMISSION

Other nuke plants need to highly evaluated & MUST pass REAL CRITERIA in order to operate

4 Finally Japan needs to announce it will NEVER make any more nuke plants. It will only run the few that pass muster & will DECOMISSION them 10yrs short of their lifespans. In the mean while NEW sources of energy need to be persued with VIGOR!

These are the most obvious points to start & yet 2015 & Japan has NO PLAN!! Who'd a thunk that!

jerseyboy: "Seems completely logical. Which is why Japan will go in the opposite direction."

Exactly! And worse yet is the "shouga nai, ne!" what will follow, and the inevitable, "We had no way of knowing!" that'll come sooner or later when the next major accident -- err... incident, occurs.

GW: turbo I don't think the boat ever existed!

There's your problem.

"hundreds"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshihiko_Noda#Nuclear_policy

In May, 2012, nuclear power plants which were sitting idle in the wake of the Fukushima disaster were restarted in order to help Japan's immediate demands for energy,[16] despite protests including hundreds of people.

Ha! It was never independent in the first place!

How about creating a third party run by general public which oversees TEPCO and the government whether there's any political interference?

Just wait, when it comes under cabinet control Abe will make the cleanup an "official" state secret thereby limiting or eliminating any public dissemination of negative reports or further complications from Fukushima.

When King Abe gets his wish and the other reactors come back on line, fuel imports will fall, and he will point to the economic benefits as HIS policies in action.

However, he will bury his head in the sand if any other incident or leak occurs and blame everyone else for the inaction and not his policies.

And what followed was disaster after disaster, and one idiotic decision after the other. Is your narrative trying to paint America as the saviour here or the bumbling idiot?

Disaster after disaster came from the Japanese side and not this agency. This agency covers over-site and not day to day management and operation of the cleanup.