The Nuclear Regulation Authority will open new radiation monitoring posts Tsushima Island in Nagasaki Prefecture and Yonaguni Island in Okinawa to broaden its ability to detect power plant accidents overseas, sources say.
The new outposts will be closer to South Korea and Taiwan, respectively, which both host multiple atomic plants. The NRA looks to have the outposts up and running by March, sources close to the NRA said Sunday.
The installation on Tsushima will be about 70 km from the Kori nuclear power plant in southern South Korea, while the Yonaguni installation will be roughly 130 km away from a nuclear power plant in northern Taiwan.
Both South Korea and Taiwan have several nuclear power plants, and nuclear accidents there could produce radioactive fallout that lands in Japan.
Japan reinforced nuclear safety measures in the wake of the triple core meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 plant in Fukushima Prefecture in March 2011.