Scene from comprehensive nuclear emergency exercise

Many people may have heard of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency in the context of news about the safety of electric power, natural gas, and other forms of energy essential to daily life. The Agency's mission is to ensure the safety of energy facilities essential to national life and of industrial activity. It works around the clock with the goals of ensuring the public's safety and conserving the environment.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency is in charge of the two fields of nuclear safety, i.e., safety regulations and disaster prevention in nuclear power production, and industrial safety, i.e., ensuring the safety of energy-related industries.

In the area nuclear safety, the Agency firmly applies safety regulations to nuclear power plants, fuel processing and reprocessing facilities, and waste disposal and management facilities. It prepares disaster management measures for the unlikely event of an accident.

In the area of industrial safety, the Agency firmly applies safety measures in areas closely related to national life and industrial activity, including electric power and municipal gas, heating, explosives, high-pressure gas, petroleum complexes, liquefied petroleum gas, and mining.

An offsite center

In order to prevent accidents and other problems at nuclear power facilities, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency carries out step-by-step regulation. Strict application of regulations at each stage, from construction to operation to decommissioning, ensures greater safety at nuclear facilities. In order to improve the effectiveness of these nuclear safety regulations, the Agency constantly reviews them, proactively responding to international trends, applying the latest technical knowledge, and studying past cases.

An inspection in progress

To boost the effectiveness of nuclear safety regulations and disaster countermeasures, it is important to focus on "onsite" activities as the regulatory axis for nuclear power facilities. Intense safety regulation and disaster prevention are carried out on the frontline by nuclear safety inspectors, who monitor management and investigate operation onsite, and senior specialists for nuclear emergencies, who work to prevent the spread of a nuclear accident if it should occur.

A nuclear power plant

Even the daily application of these safety regulations cannot prevent accidents with 100-percent certainty. Complete disaster management policies for the unlikely event of an accident are therefore necessary. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency therefore has 20 offsite centers around Japan that can serve as local headquarters if an accident occurs. It further strengthens disaster management through comprehensive nuclear emergency exercises.

Work on power transmission lines. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency works on ensuring public safety by regulating the construction, maintenance, and operation of this kind of electrical structure. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency works to ensure safety in all sorts of contexts, for example, fireworks, one of the charming sights in summer in Japan.

In order to realize stable living conditions and to promote the ongoing and stable development of industrial activities through the stable supply of resources and energy, it is necessary to secure the safety not only of nuclear power plants but also of industrial facilities through accident prevention and disaster management as well as to gain the trust of the public.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency therefore firmly applies industrial safety measures for electricity, gas, high-pressure gas, liquefied petroleum gas, explosives, and mining. In addition, the Agency considers proactive safety a fundamental prerequisite on the part of those involved in all these sectors, and carries out rational safety assurance through after-the-fact checks.

In order to prevent violations of the law and accidents such as explosions and fires of industrial facilities before they happen, it is important to promote a culture of safety rather than to just respond after the fact. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency also studies ways to raise private sector awareness of compliance issues by working closely with business.

Nationwide network of Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency centers Click to view large image

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency was established in 2001 as an organization dedicated to working for nuclear, energy, and industrial safety. Since then it has worked hard in these areas, actively responding to the trust placed in it by the Japanese people. With its role growing larger, the Agency must apply the synergistic effect of its knowledge in all the sectors it is responsible for in order to ascertain and deeply understand common elements and increase the effectiveness of safety regulations.

The Agency has a four-part code of conduct consisting of "A strong sense of mission," "Scientific, rational judgments," "Transparency in our operations," and "Neutrality and justice." It must continue to adhere to this code, reflecting the latest scientific knowledge, ceaselessly reviewing regulations, and making regulatory frameworks public. At the same time, it must fulfill its responsibility to provide the public with clear explanations.

Furthermore, it will conduct its duties with an intense sense of responsibility to obtain the trust of society at large by setting up training opportunities to improve the quality of its personnel, and, with Japan being the most advanced nuclear power country in Asia, by engaging in international cooperation on safety regulation.