Monday, Dec. 19, 2011

Nine months after the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, Japan is ready to tighten laws and regulations on atomic power plants so their operators will be obliged to comply with the latest safety requirements, government sources said Sunday.

Power plants may even be assigned maximum usage periods.

The government came up with the plan after reflecting on concerns raised about older reactors and the abject failure of Tokyo Electric Power Co., which runs the crippled Fukushima No. 1 power plant, to upgrade the aging facility's safety measures in line with new scientific findings on tsunami risk, they said.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's administration plans to submit the related bills to the Diet when it opens next month.

The revised laws and regulations will allow the government to suspend a nuclear plant if it fails to meet the latest safety requirements, irrespective of its age, the sources said.

The move could force some utilities to decommission their reactors if they can't meet the new standards, the sources added.

The government is also considering setting the maximum lifespan for nuclear power plants at around 40 years, they said.

The Fukushima No. 1 plant has been running since the 1970s.

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