Japan’s government nominated Shunichi Tanaka, an expert in radiation physics, to head a new safety regulator, taking a step forward in its efforts to restore trust in nuclear power, shattered by last year’s Fukushima disaster.
But it is uncertain whether confidence can be restored with public feeling running high against the «nuclear village» — industry officials, politicians and utility operators seen as failing to avert the disaster.
The Fukushima accident – meltdowns linked to the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that crippled the plant – has rejuvenated the anti-nuclear movement. A rally last week drew 100,000 protesters.
The government hopes that the new safety body, to be launched in September, will instill more confidence than two current regulatory bodies, both heavily criticized for their cozy ties with the power industry.
Tanaka, 67, a former deputy head of the Cabinet Office’s Atomic Energy Commission, was nominated for the new safety watchdog along with four other candidates.
«We’re in an extremely severe situation as to whether we can regain public confidence in the state and the administration,» Environment Minister Goshi Hosono told reporters after the government put forward the nominations to parliament.
«We have selected suitable persons from the standpoint that those who have not learned a lesson from Fukushima are not qualified to be involved in nuclear energy administration.»
Japan restarted two reactors this month to avoid a potential blackout in the summer — all of Japan’s 50 operating nuclear reactors had been taken offline for checks after the disaster.
But reconnecting even two reactors to the power grid has consolidated anti-nuclear feeling.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald