March 1 & 2, 2023

The Kishida government in a cabinet meeting on February 28 decided on a package of bills to revise five laws, including the Atomic Energy Basic Law and the Law on the Regulation of Nuclear Reactors, in order to enable nuclear power plants to be operated beyond the present 60-year limit.

Japanese Communist Party Diet Policy Commission Chair Kokuta Keiji on the following day at a press conference in the Diet building pointed out that the Kishida administration had never explained before the public its plan to extend the operating life of nuclear reactors beyond 60 years and construct new nuclear power plants. He also pointed out that the current regulations, under which the lifespan of nuclear reactors is limited to 60 years at the longest, were established in reaction to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdowns. He said, “The government decided to submit the package bill as if the Fukushima disaster never happened, which is outrageous and totally unacceptable.”

Kokuta referred to a remark by the Nuclear Regulation Authority chair, Yamanaka Shinsuke, that with the government-set deadline for submitting a relevant bill approaching, the NRA in its meeting approved the use of over 60-year-old reactors by the simple majority decision rule.

Kokuta said that the separation of the regulatory body from organizations responsible for the promotion of the use of nuclear energy was made based on lessons derived from the Fukushima disaster. He added that the government act of putting pressure on the NRA by setting a deadline is unacceptable.

Past related articles:
> Regulators approve reactor operations beyond 60 years by vote [February 15, 2023]
> JCP Kasai demands retraction of new nuclear energy policy that throws away precious lessons derived from Fukushima disaster [December 23, 2022]