The Nuclear Regulation Authority has opened public comment on a draft outline that would make nuclear operators confirm for themselves that applications meet regulatory standards, keep key design records, and face penalties if filings are false. The commission approved the consultation at its 39th meeting on Oct 28. Comments run from Oct 29 to Nov 27, a 30-day period. The consultation is voluntary: the outline is not a government order under the Administrative Procedure Act, but the commission says it sets out the basic approach to the reform.
Self-confirmation and false filings
Under the draft, applicants for business designations, reactor installation permits, nuclear fuel use permits and design and construction plan approvals would have to confirm conformity with the relevant standards themselves, and keep important design documents. The NRA would set which records in its rules and check the confirmation system and its operation through review and inspection. Documents or filings that turn out to be false would carry penalties. The outline does not state the size or form of those penalties.
The draft ties the change to the seismic ground-motion misconduct case. It says reporting orders and inspections so far confirmed that the ground motion was set using an inappropriate method to select targets, and that false explanatory materials and back-up data were prepared and false statements made at review meetings. Earlier Tokyo Brief coverage tracks that case.
Licensing mechanics
The draft would abolish the 30-day pre-notification review period that now applies to permit changes and design and construction plan notifications at power reactors. Changes needing review would go through approval, while minor ones, defined by NRA rules, would be notified afterwards. The outline gives a shared spent-fuel cask as an example of a minor change.
Other proposals:
- Operators of power reactors and research reactors could ask the NRA to confirm in advance that natural-hazard design conditions meet permit standards, before filing for a permit. The facility design would still be examined in the normal review.
- Work needing immediate response because of new knowledge could start without approval at power reactors, reprocessing plants and fabrication plants, with prompt notification.
- Nuclear safety rules for nuclear power plant equipment now sitting under the Electricity Business Act would be folded into the reactor law where they overlap, including duties to appoint chief electrical engineers and boiler and turbine chief engineers. The outline says coordination with the trade ministry is under way.
Physical protection and safeguards
Nuclear material protection rules, and a new safeguards rule replacing the current material-accounting rule, would need approval before construction of a facility starts. Operators would also have to appoint a safeguards officer. The NRA could order corrections, changes to the rule or removal of the officer, and revoke permits if orders are ignored.
The outline would also scrap the designated-agency system for safeguards work and create a public body for it. An independent administrative agency is under consideration. The outline cites the coming full operation of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant and the need to handle IAEA inspections.
Timing
The outline says operators would need at least about 1.5 years to prepare, counted from when the reform is certain, for document retention, the move to the safeguards rule and inspections under the new domestic safeguards system. Trial and transition periods are under consideration. After the comment period, the NRA will bring the revised outline back to the commission for a decision, then work on draft legislation.