Environmental Policies in Regulating Nuclear Energy in Japan

Introduction

Fig. 1: NRA officials visiting Fukushima Daiichi Complex (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Japan has been affected by numerous nuclear accidents in the past and the severity of accidents significantly surpass incidents from other countries. Among the striking accidents that took place in Japan, the nuclear disaster of Fukushima Daiichi is notoriously the most recent and by far has been the most long-lasting damage to the country. On March 11, 2011, a catastrophic earthquake hit the eastern region of Japan, followed by a concomitant tsunami, which essentially destroyed the power plant. The extreme heat generated by the meltdown of reactor cores provoked hydrogen-air chemical explosions. [1] According to the Japanese Science Ministry, radioactive cesium contaminated about 11,580 square miles of land in Japan, and 130 square miles of surface area was designated hazardous for human habitation. [2] Therefore, it is crucial that the Japanese government as well as private firms continue to combat the contamination through effective measures.

Policies

In response to public outrage regarding the Fukushima disaster, two regulatory agencies, NSC (Nuclear Safety Commission) and NISA (Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency), amalgamated to a new sector called NRA (Nuclear Regulation Authority). The refined law states that NRA is responsible for regulating every aspect of nuclear power generation, including construction, plant operations, and the disposal of radiological waste. The NRA is essentially in charge of overseeing the operational safety programs of the plant (refer to Fig. 1). However, much of the supervisions were operated through "self-inspections" and safety "self-evaluations", so some systematic errors were neglected. Related government officials acknowledged this drawback and on April 7, 2017, the National Assembly of Japan ratified nuclear inspection reform to allow regulators to administer unannounced inspections of nuclear plants and provide them with unlimited access to necessary data. [2]

The nuclear damage compensation facilitation and decommissioning corporation (NDF) act is another crucial legislative decision post-Fukushima accident. This corporation was initially founded as a source to compensate for major damages caused by the prefecture contamination. This compensation is funded by the Japanese government and de-contamination and decommissioning payments are funded by rate-payers associated with the Power Source Development Promotion Tax. Another responsibility of the organization is to regulate the decommissioning of the Fukushima reactors. As a key obligation, the NDF organizes an annual "Technical Strategic Plan" that offers useful technical guidance for decommissioning challenges, managing R&D, and distributing information about decommissioning efforts. While NDF administers a broad range of tasks, other government sectors are reaching out for additional help. For example, at the Ministry level, the Prime Minister's Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters (NERH) was activated and directed to convene an Inter-Ministerial Council to tackle water decontamination and plan decommissioning issues. [2]

Conclusion

A one-time extensive nuclear accident can cause a long-lasting damage of more than 30 years. Although caused by an unforeseen natural disaster, nuclear accidents like the Fukushima incident can and must be prevented in not only Japan but in other countries as well. Reviewing past and current legislative enforcements in Japan, especially focused around regulating nuclear energy policies, the public as well as foreigners can critically interpret shortcomings while steadfastly adapting effective strategies. It is hoped that such environmental policies eliminate remaining contaminations and bring about an auspicious future to Japan's nuclear power plants. [3]

© Hannah Park. The author warrants that the work is the author's own and that Stanford University provided no input other than typesetting and referencing guidelines. The author grants permission to copy, distribute and display this work in unaltered form, with attribution to the author, for noncommercial purposes only. All other rights, including commercial rights, are reserved to the author.

References

[1] N. Behling, M. C. Williams, and S. Managi, "Regulating Japan's Nuclear Power Industry to Achieve Zero-Accidents," Energy Policy 127, 308 (2019).

[2] N. Behling et al., "Aftermath of Fukushima: Avoiding Another Major Nuclear Disaster," Energy Policy 126, 411 (2019).

[3] S. Kosai et al., "Recommendation to ASEAN Nuclear Development Based on Lessons Learnt From the Fukushima Nuclear Accident," Energy Policy 129, 628 (2019).