Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (原子力安全・保安院, Genshiryoku Anzen Hoanin^?) was a Japanese nuclear regulatory and oversight branch of the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). It was created in 2001 during the 2001 Central Government Reform. It has a main office in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo that works with the Japanese Atomic Energy Commission as well as providing other functions. It also has regional offices. It performs oversight for industry as requested by the Japanese government.

Especially after the Fukushima disaster, NISA was criticized as having a conflict of interest, given that it was part of METI, which is also responsible for promoting nuclear power. As a consequence, it was decided on June 20, 2012 that NISA would be abolished and that it would be replaced by a new agency, under the Ministry of the Environment in September 2012. The Nuclear Regulation Authority was founded on September 19, 2012.

According to a government report to the International Atomic Energy Agency in June 2011, "NISA’s lack of independence from the trade ministry, which promotes the use of atomic power, hampered a quick response to the disaster at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant this year". Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster, there have been questions raised about whether the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has been fulfilling its function as an industry regulator, and whether it should continue to exist.

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