IAEA endorses Japanese nuclear stress tests

A delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency on Tuesday endorsed stress tests to see if Japanese nuclear plants could withstand a repeat of last year's earthquake and tsunami, which killed nearly 16 thousand people and led to a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The UN agency’s delegation reviewed stress tests conducted by Japan’s national Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA). The stress tests used computer simulations to evaluate a reactor's resilience.

The IAEA team leader James Lyons said NISA’s testing was sound.

"We concluded that NISA's instructions to power plants and its review process for the comprehensive safety assessments are generally consistent with IAEA safety standards," he told reporters.

Lyons also suggested 11 points for improvement, such as the need to give better information to local municipalities which host the reactors.

Also on Tuesday, the Japanese cabinet approved bills that would set up a new nuclear safety agency, which is designed to be more independent of external influences.

The Japanese government is struggling to regain public support for nuclear power, which provided a third of the energy used in the country before the disaster. But most of the Japan’s nuclear power plants were shut down after the tsunami, leaving only three of 54 reactors in operation.

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