Energy commission puts off revision work

TOKYO, April 5 (UPI) -- Japan's nuclear crisis has raised questions about the safety of nuclear power, the head of the country's Atomic Energy Commission said Tuesday.

"We have to admit that there has been an error in the criteria of judgment in promoting the country's nuclear power policy," Kyodo News quoted commission chairman Shunsuke Kondo as saying.

His comments came as the commission announced it will suspend its work to revise the country's nuclear power protocol in light of the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant, set off by the March 11 earthquake-tsunami calamity. The current protocol has been in place since October 2005 and calls for a nuclear fuel cycle that reprocesses spent nuclear fuel, recycling plutonium and using uranium-plutonium mixed oxide fuel at light-water reactors, Kyodo reported.

The policy also envisages making nuclear power generation account for as much as 40 percent of Japan's total power output by 2030.

The five-member commission said it will "suspend the revision work for the time being" as it looks into the crisis and monitors discussions on Japan's energy policy at the national level, while noting the crisis has shaken confidence in efforts to ensure the safety of nuclear power.

Kondo's panel called for immediately strengthening safety measures at nuclear plants already in operation or those set to begin operation.