Japanese Nuclear Safety Commission
The Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan ( NSC, English for " Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan ."; Jap原子 力 安全 委员会, genshiryoku Anzen iinkai, literally " Atomic Safety Commission " ) was a panel of scientists, which the Japanese government in matters of safety of nuclear installations advised. The Commission was established in 1978 and was composed of five experts in the fields of reactor safety and radiation biology together, each of which was appointed by the Prime Minister of Japan; they also had access to about 35 other experts on nuclear safety. The office of the NSC was located in the Central Government Buildings Ranked # 4 in the ministries district of Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo.
The Commission was disbanded on 19 September 2012, and replaced by the Genshiryoku Kisei iinkai.
History
1955 adopted the Japanese government, the Japanese Atomic Energy Act (原子 力 基本法) with the aim to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy in Japan, as well as the " Act on the Establishment of the Atomic Energy Commission and the Nuclear Safety Commission " (Japanese原子力 委員 会 及び 原子力 安全 委員 会 設置 法, genshiryoku iinkai oyobi genshiryoku Anzen iinkai setchi hō ). 1956 ( genshiryoku iinkai, " Atomic Energy Commission " JAEC, engl. For原子 力 委员会, ) was on the basis of the latter Act, the Japan Atomic Energy Commission set up. The task of JAEC since then to develop guidelines for the use of nuclear energy in Japan and to follow the order specified goals.
In 1978, the Nuclear Safety Commission, which spun off as an independent institution in order to, in contrast to the aligned on the promotion of nuclear energy JAEC act as overseer can from the JAEC. Both commissions are similarly organized and the Ministry of Science and Technology were assigned.
In 1981 the NSC its first report on nuclear safety.
Following the reorganization of the Japanese government, the two commissions in 2000 were first in 2001 then assigned to the Office of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Office, while the Ministry of Science and Technology in the new cult and Technology Ministry ( MEXT ) came up.
Activity
The duties of the NSC to monitor the Japanese Atomic Energy Agency and the MEXT and their advice on security issues, and setting security policies for nuclear facilities and radiation protection belongs. The NSC also analyzed nuclear accidents and advises the Prime Minister of Japan in nuclear emergencies. She is certified to ISO 9001.
On the basis of data of the earthquake in Kobe in 1995, the Commission revised the 2006 guidelines for the seismic protection of Japanese nuclear power plants. 2007 criticized the seismologist Katsuhiko Ishibashi, a professor at the University of Kobe, these policies and put the independence of the NPC in question. An investigation by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA ) Regulations, 2011 revealed that the guidelines are abstract, untestable and without obligation.
Fukushima nuclear disaster
While the nuclear disaster at Fukushima, the NSC regularly published evaluations for radiation exposure in the vicinity of the power plant. They also estimated the total release of radioactive material (→ see radiation exposure to the nuclear accidents at Fukushima ), which the Japanese nuclear regulatory authority served the international scale for nuclear events as a comparison value in the classification of series of accidents at level 7 ( " catastrophic accident ").
The Commission calculated from the March 11, 2011 on the basis of computer models, the expected radioactive contamination in the environment of the damaged nuclear power plant Fukushima Daiichi, but the results are held together with the Japanese government under wraps to avoid panic in the population. This has been repeatedly criticized publicly. Only on 2 May 2011 the NSC published the data on its website after Toshiso Kosako, special scientific adviser to Prime Minister Naoto Kan on the nuclear crisis, had resigned in protest over the government crisis management.
The NSC was also criticized that they sent not one of their experts as consultants to the power plant.
As a result of accidents, the chairman Haruki Madarame, Professor of Engineering ( Fluid and Thermal Engineering ) at the University of Tokyo, found that the safety guidelines of the NRC are inadequate. They explain a prolonged power failure - one of the main causes of the Fukushima disaster - to be negligible.
Therefore, the Commission and the Japanese Atomic Energy Agency was disbanded on 19 September 2012, and replaced by the Genshiryoku Kisei iinkai.