April 21, 2011
The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) has employed at least 82 corporate employees from nuclear power plant manufacturers and electric power companies since the NISA’s founding in 2001 as an inner organ of the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI).
The revelation came out in documents submitted by the METI to Yoshii Hidekatsu, Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives.
The documents show that these employees served as nuclear safety inspectors, safety examiners, and specialists for nuclear emergency preparedness.
Some of them were hired as safety inspectors in charge of the very nuclear reactors that their employer designed or constructed.
For example, Hitachi, Ltd. was involved with the project of Unit 4 and Toshiba Corporation with the project of other Units at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Those NISA staff from Hitachi and Toshiba are safety inspectors in charge of the reactors their original employers made.
In addition, the Nuclear Safety Commission (NSC), placed under the Cabinet Office, has also assigned people from nuclear plant-related corporations to the NSC head office.
According to the document submitted by the Cabinet Office to JCP Yoshii, for the past two years alone, the NSC has employed one person from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and another person from Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, Ltd. as regulatory investigators as well as one from the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, Inc. as a technical counselor.
Yoshii said, “There is nothing wrong for the nuclear safety regulatory organs to use engineers who gained expertise in plant design or construction planning in private companies. However, it is a fundamental requirement that they should be free from any influence from their previous employer.”
“The NISA cannot function as a ‘regulatory organ’ in the first place because it is placed under the nuclear promoting METI,” he said, “Therefore, it is necessary to completely separate the nuclear regulatory body from the nuclear promoting administration and to establish a proper system to ensure nuclear safety.”
The revelation came out in documents submitted by the METI to Yoshii Hidekatsu, Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives.
The documents show that these employees served as nuclear safety inspectors, safety examiners, and specialists for nuclear emergency preparedness.
Some of them were hired as safety inspectors in charge of the very nuclear reactors that their employer designed or constructed.
For example, Hitachi, Ltd. was involved with the project of Unit 4 and Toshiba Corporation with the project of other Units at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Those NISA staff from Hitachi and Toshiba are safety inspectors in charge of the reactors their original employers made.
In addition, the Nuclear Safety Commission (NSC), placed under the Cabinet Office, has also assigned people from nuclear plant-related corporations to the NSC head office.
According to the document submitted by the Cabinet Office to JCP Yoshii, for the past two years alone, the NSC has employed one person from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and another person from Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, Ltd. as regulatory investigators as well as one from the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, Inc. as a technical counselor.
Yoshii said, “There is nothing wrong for the nuclear safety regulatory organs to use engineers who gained expertise in plant design or construction planning in private companies. However, it is a fundamental requirement that they should be free from any influence from their previous employer.”
“The NISA cannot function as a ‘regulatory organ’ in the first place because it is placed under the nuclear promoting METI,” he said, “Therefore, it is necessary to completely separate the nuclear regulatory body from the nuclear promoting administration and to establish a proper system to ensure nuclear safety.”
