CNIC Statement: The Nuclear Regulation Authority should implement strict regulations to ensure its independence.
January 27, 2026
At the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), established on the basis of sincere reflection on the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station accident, a situation has arisen that casts doubt on the independence of its regulatory behavior. The Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission proposed in Recommendation 5-1 of its official report that “Independence: The chain of command, responsible authority and work process must be: (i) Independent from organizations promoted by the government (ii) Independent from the operators (iii) Independent from the public.” [i]
We examined how independent the NRA is from the operators.
The Cabinet Secretariat is compiling data on the status of acceptance of personnel from the private sector to the national government. [ii] The number of personnel seconded from the private sector to the NRA since its establishment is shown in the following graph. The total number of NRA employees as of 2025 is 1,064 [iii], thus the percentage of seconded personnel is not particularly high. However, the number of personnel accepted to the NRA has increased significantly since 2012.
We examined which departments at the NRA the seconded personnel were assigned to and confirmed that not only the research departments but also the regulation/licensing departments and the regional offices had accepted seconded personnel from regulated entities and their subcontractors. Seconded personnel engaging in work related to the seconding company or being appointed to a bureaucratic position where she or he may be granting approvals or licenses to the seconding company is prohibited. [iv] That said, it is a highly unusual situation from the perspective of the regulatory independence and transparency of the NRA / the secretariat of the NRA, that, in the first place, it is expected to enforce strict regulations and advocate for its transparency, and then accepts personnel seconded from regulated entities and assigns these personnel to the regulation/licensing department where they publish summaries of proceedings while even holding meetings with these regulated organizations,.
The lack of adequate monitoring and oversight functions led to the Fukushima Daiichi NPS accident 15 years ago. We must not repeat the same mistake. In this ongoing general election, each party should clarify their stance on nuclear regulation.
[All links and Reference in Japanese except [i]]
Reference: Status of personnel accepted from private sectors to the Nuclear Regulation Authority for a fixed period
[ii] www.cas.go.jp/jp/gaiyou/jimu/jinjikyoku/jinji_f1.html
[iii] www.enecho.meti.go.jp/category/electricity_and_gas/nuclear/001/event/humanresource/250924/20250924_HRC01_04.pdf
[iv] www.cas.go.jp/jp/gaiyou/jimu/jinjikyoku/files/000152969.pdf
