TOKYO — Resolution is on the horizon for the Diet impasse over a bill to create a nuclear regulatory agency in Japan, as the government and the ruling Democratic Party of Japan have decided to accept a counterproposal from the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito that calls for drastic revisions to the government-sponsored bill, government sources have revealed.
The ruling bloc is determined to make the concessions necessary to enact legislation to launch the government-proposed nuclear regulatory body during the current legislative session, several government and DPJ sources said Friday.
The proposal put forth by the two major opposition parties says the government-proposed nuclear regulatory agency, under the Environment Ministry, should be subordinate to what the LDP and Komeito have tentatively called a “nuclear regulatory commission.”
This regulatory commission would have a highly independent status, much like the Fair Trade Commission under Article 3 of the National Government Organization Law.
Under the LDP-Komeito proposal, the government-planned agency would have about 500 employees and act as the secretariat of a five-member regulatory commission. Appointments to the independent commission would require Diet approval, sources said.
The capitulation of the ruling camp to opposition parties is expected to lead to an early start of Diet deliberations on the government-sponsored bill, according to the sources.
In exchange for the concession to incorporate the opposition-proposed commission into the government bill, the ruling bloc has called for the opposition to start Diet debates on the bill from Friday, they said.
The government hopes to establish the nuclear regulatory agency as early as June 1, the sources noted.
The opposition-envisioned nuclear regulatory commission would have the right to decide on a wide range of personnel and budgetary matters, as is the case with the FTC.
The government’s bill would have empowered the environment minister to appoint the chief of the agency to ensure a swift political decision could be made in the event of a nuclear emergency.
The LDP-Komeito plans are designed to grant major decision-making authority to the nuclear commission, leading Environment Minister Goshi Hosono to express his concern that the commission, a collegial panel, could have difficulty handling a potential nuclear crisis.
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