Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) opened a monthlong public comment period on July 23 for a rule change that would remove a recurring compliance step for the country's nuclear plant operators.
Under the current regulation, the Standards Concerning Operation Supervisors and Related Matters, plant operators must select their operation supervisors, the staff responsible for judging whether reactor crews meet safety criteria, and obtain NRA confirmation that their internal assessment method meets the regulator's standards. That confirmation currently lapses after three years, forcing operators back through the approval process on a fixed clock regardless of whether anything has changed.
The NRA says the fixed renewal has become a paperwork exercise. Most three-year reapplications, the regulator noted, contain no changes from the previously approved method or only minor edits. Since the newer inspection framework took effect from the fiscal year that began in April 2020, annual basic inspections already check whether operators are applying the confirmed method, making the separate three-year check largely redundant.
After meeting with operators on June 18, 2026, the NRA and the utilities agreed it was appropriate to abolish the three-year validity clause written into Article 4 of the notice. In its place, the draft would require operators to seek NRA confirmation only when they intend to change an assessment method the regulator has already approved, rather than reapplying on a fixed schedule.
The draft amends a notice originally issued by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in August 2001, and it was published alongside the comment call. Comments are open from July 23 through August 21, 2026, submitted in Japanese either through the e-Gov portal or by mail to the NRA's reactor-inspection division in Tokyo. The proposal has not been finalized, and the regulator has not indicated any change to inspection frequency beyond the confirmation requirement itself.