High-level meeting of the ASN Commission with the Japanese Minister, Mr Goshi Hosono

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The Commission and the General Directorate of ASN received officially, on 19 January, at his request, the Japanese Minister, Mr Goshi Hosono.

Mr Hosono leads the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry responsible for the Restoration from and Prevention of Nuclear Accident. He is also a Minister of State reporting to the Prime Minister in charge of organising compensation for the victims of the accident at Fukushima Daiichi.

Mr Hosono was accompanied by the Ambassador of Japan to France.

The Minister first presented the situation on the Fukushima NPP site. In particular, he explained that the radiological emergency was over and that the dismantling phase had just begun. This phase, forecast to last for 30 years in all, is planned to start with the recovery of the spent fuel in the pool of Reactor No. 4, Mr Hosono stressed.

The Minister also spoke of the situation off the site. He said that it was conceivable that people might be allowed to return to their homes in areas having suffered low-level contamination in the spring of 2012, but that this possibility was dependent on how much progress was made in the soil decontamination work.

The other key point of the meeting related to the establishment of a new Nuclear Safety Authority in Japan. The structure of the new Authority, its operation and its responsibilities were presented to ASN.

At Mr Hosono's request, Mr Lacoste assured the Minister of his support in the planned reform of the nuclear safety control system in Japan, a reform that the Chairman of ASN described as major and which, he pointed out, was in line with the discussions engaged in during Mr Hosono's previous visit to the ASN in June 2011.

ASN will develop its cooperation with the new Japanese regulatory Authority which has provisionally been called NSSA (Nuclear Safety and Security Agency) and which is planned to be set up in April 2012.

Press Contact: Evangelia Petit, Head of Press Office, Tel.: +33 (0)1 40 19 86 61 - evangelia.petit@asn.fr