The Diet on Friday passed a sweeping nuclear inspection reform to allow regulators to conduct unannounced inspections of nuclear plants and give them unlimited access to needed data.
The enactment of the revised nuclear reactor regulation law comes after the International Atomic Energy Agency suggested that Japan, which has been holding periodic inspections using checklists, needs a more flexible system.
The new one, based on the U.S. system, will be implemented in fiscal 2020 after the Nuclear Regulation Authority sets specific rules.
The revised law stipulates that utility operators bear the responsibility for checking whether their nuclear facilities meet state standards, and gives government inspectors the power to freely check equipment and data to comprehensively monitor how the reactors are run.
The government will assess safety measures taken at each reactor and disclose the outcomes with the aim of promoting utilities' safety efforts.