Japan Press Weekly

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2011 May 18 - 24 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

A new regulatory body must work to decommission nuclear power plants: Shii

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo, commenting on the prime minister’s intention to consider separating the nuclear power regulatory organ from the nuclear power promoter, said that a new regulatory body should work to decommission nuclear power plants.

Asked by reporters on May 19, Shii pointed out that the present conditions violate the international treaty, and that it is a matter of course for Japan to set up an independent regulatory institute.

A new organ should “have a strong mandate and should strictly be independent from the power industry and any other interest groups in order to exclude all forms of collusive relationships,” he said.

He went on to say, “If a newly create agency works only to give a ‘safety endorsement’ to the remaining nuclear power plants, it will be just another vehicle used to construct more nuclear reactors.”

Shii demanded that the government establish a new regulatory agency to not promote but to decommission nuclear power plants in Japan.