On January 21st, a team of IAEA experts confirmed that Japan has intensified inspections as part of intense efforts in recent years to improve its regulatory framework for nuclear and radiological safety.
A statement issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna stated that the agency’s experts have monitored significant progress in nuclear safety efforts in Japan since the end of of a previous IAEA mission in 2016, where they recommended that further measures be taken regarding protection of radiation and transport safety.
The statement pointed out that the mission of the experts was carried out at the request of the Government of Japan and was hosted by the Nuclear Regulatory Authority, which was established in 2012 as an independent and transparent regulatory body in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident.
It is noteworthy that in the aftermath of the Fukushima accident, 54 nuclear power reactors in Japan, which produce about 30% of the country’s electricity needs, have been shut down, and nine reactors have since been restarted after they complied with the new safety requirements introduced after the accident in 2011.
