Japan is to restrict senior industry regulators from taking jobs at power companies after criticism that the practice compromised safety and contributed to last month’s nuclear accident.
Yukio Edano, chief cabinet secretary, said the government would ask senior bureaucrats at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), which regulates the electricity sector, to refrain temporarily from taking posts at power companies “in order not to raise the public’s suspicions”.
The decision follows widespread public criticism that the ministry’s close ties with Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) prevented it from properly regulating the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant that was crippled by the earthquake and tsunami and has leaked radioactive material into the air and sea.