Japan's safety experts funded by nuke industry

Being swayed by power companies.

This is the risk involved in a set up where a government panel drafting nuclear safety standards receive funding from the industry it was supposed to regulate.

It was revealed by the Nuclear Regulation Authority that each of the members of the said government panel received between ¥3 million and ¥27 million in payments, donations and grants from entities in the atomic energy industry in the last three to four years.

But after the new watchdog disclosed the data Friday, its secretariat said all four members "were selected in line with regulations, and there should thus be no problem" over their appointment.

The NRA requires experts involved in drafting safety standards for nuclear plants and other matters to disclose their remuneration and donations received, but it has no provision to disqualify them if previously withheld information comes to light.

Of the four members, Akira Yamaguchi, a professor at Osaka University's graduate school, and Akio Yamamoto, a Nagoya University professor, each received payments in excess of ¥500,000 annually from entities including Nuclear Engineering Ltd., an affiliate of Kansai Electric Power Co.

In addition, Yamamoto received more than ¥27 million in donations and research grants from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., which manufactures equipment for nuclear reactors, and Yamaguchi raked in a total of ¥10.1

million from Japan Atomic Power Co., a constructor and operator of atomic plants, and from other nuclear-related parties.

Meanwhile, University of Tsukuba professor Yutaka Abe was paid a combined ¥5 million by a variety of bodies, including a research laboratory affiliated with Tokyo Electric Power Co., and Tomoyuki Sugiyama, a researcher at the state-run Japan Atomic Energy Agency, was awarded roughly ¥3 million in total from Nuclear Fuel Industries Ltd.

The only two panel members who did not receive any funds from nuclear power industry entities are Norio Watanabe, a researcher at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, and Meiji University associate professor Tadahiro Katsuta.

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