The Nuclear Regulation Authority, launched in September this year, decided at an October 19 extraordinary meeting on the preparation of new safety standards including regulatory measures to prevent severe accidents. The Authority will form an expert review team to start discussing the details of regulation from October 25. The review team will draft the outline of the new safety standards by January or February next year, gather opinions from the electric industry and specialists, and draft regulatory provisions by March. After taking public comments, the Authority will enforce the new safety standards in July next year.
At its first meeting, the review team will start from reviewing the definitions of external events such as earthquakes and tsunamis. The finding obtained by the former Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency regarding severe accident control will be used only for reference purposes.
In parallel with the review team’s discussion, the Nuclear Regulation Authority will solicit comments from experts through regular meetings from November, and such comments will be use for the preparation of the new safety standards. After drafting the outline of the standards early next year, the review team will gather opinions from the public, specific experts outside the team, as well as electric utilities and reactor vendors, who will be subject to the regulation.
