Institutions formed in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster “serve to strengthen” the entire nuclear industry, the former chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said at an international nuclear energy commission panel this week.
At the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) panel on Wednesday, George W. Bush-era NRC head Richard Meserve said that new institutions formed in Japan after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant meltdown was “remarkable and important,” and that it “reflects complementary actions” between regulators and industry to ensure the safety and security of nuclear power plants.
Organizations formed after the disaster, such as the Japanese Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) formed in 2012, are assisted in their regulatory duties by international advisers, including NRC staff, Meserve said.
Wednesday’s panel coincided with the release of a new Agency report marking the ten year anniversary of the Fukushima disaster. In the report, the NEA said that over the last decade Japanese authorities “have risen very effectively to the unprecedented challenges presented by the Fukushima Daiichi accident and subsequent recovery.”
“The efforts to reduce risks at the site have been very successful and the way has been cleared for many people to at least consider returning to their homes,” the report said.
Where decommissioning and decontamination of the plant are concerned, the Agency recommends that Japanese regulators enhance their international cooperation to ensure they have the skills and technology necessary to safely dismantle the site.
The Fukushima plant, located on the Pacific coast in Ōkuma, Fukushima Prefecture, suffered three reactor meltdowns in March 2011 after a tsunami cleared the facility’s protective sea wall and flooded the lower sections of its four reactors. The subsequent radiation leaks forced evacuations in a 12-mile radius of the plant, making it the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986.
