An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission will visit Japan next week to help assess the safety of the country’s nuclear power plants.
Arranged at the request of the Japanese government, the IAEA mission will visit Japan 23 to 31 January.
The agency said its team will hold meetings with Japanese officials in Tokyo and visit the Ohi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture.
Japan’s request for the mission follows the approval of the IAEA’s Nuclear Safety Action Plan by all IAEA member states in September 2011.
The plan outlines what needs to be done to strengthen the global nuclear safety framework, and calls for nations to “promptly undertake a national assessment of the design of nuclear power plants against extreme natural hazards”.
Japan's nuclear regulator, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), has also prepared an approach to assessing nuclear power plant safety. The IAEA mission will review that approach and provide findings and recommendations to NISA.
