Wedoany.com Report on Feb 7th, The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) completed its institutional review of Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) on the 6th and released a summary of the assessment report. Staff of the Nuclear Regulation Authority, which handles the secretariat for the regulatory commission, recommended relaxing regulations that prevent the transfer of personnel from nuclear energy promotion organizations and companies such as the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, in order to enhance workforce mobility.

At a press conference, Petteri Tiippana, Director General of Finland's Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) and leader of the IAEA assessment team, pointed out: "The Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority and the government need to consider restrictions that may affect the ability to deploy personnel. Other countries have addressed this issue by leaving a certain period of time between personnel transfers."

It is understood that in response to the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, Japan implemented an "irreversible rule" to clearly separate regulatory and promotional work. Employees of the nuclear regulatory agency are not allowed to transfer to nuclear-related departments of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry or the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

Upon request from member states, the IAEA conducts a review of each member state's safety regulatory framework approximately every ten years. This review is called the Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS). The current review began on January 26 and lasted about two weeks, including interviews with relevant parties and on-site inspections of nuclear power plants. Since the last review in 2016, a mechanism allowing for unannounced inspections of nuclear power plants has been introduced.