The government has revealed the outline for a special committee to investigate the cause of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, including plans to solicit contributions by foreign experts.
The outline, unveiled May 11, states that a committee of 10 experts will be named by Prime Minister Naoto Kan, while the final details of the committee will be decided shortly by the Cabinet.
Furthermore, criticism of dysfunction at the Nuclear Safety Commission, the paucity of information on the crisis provided to the international community, and the slow reaction to the accident by the government and nuclear plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) has been made following the accident. The new committee will not just investigate the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, but also use the assembled critiques to build recommendations on reforms to Japanese nuclear safety policy.
The committee will be broken into three working groups; one to investigate the cause of the accident, the second to analyze measures to prevent the disaster from growing, and the third to examine nuclear legislation. According to the government, the committee will take an impartial, multilateral approach to examining the causes of the crisis.
Committee members will include nuclear engineers, seismologists and radiation safety experts, as well as legal and financial figures and representatives of local governments affected by the crisis. It will also call on Cabinet members and senior bureaucrats connected to the issue, power company representatives and International Atomic Energy Agency staff to speak to the committee.
Furthermore, the committee will request experts from the United States, France, Russia and other nations with nuclear power programs to participate in deliberations in an advisory role.
The committee office will be under direct Cabinet supervision, and its secretariat will be recruited from outside government ministries and agencies subject to the investigation. The outline projects the committee will release an interim report by the end of the year, with the final version to be submitted in summer 2012.
"We will not just release the final product, but make the entire investigative process open to the public," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a press conference on May 11.
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(Mainichi Japan) May 12, 2011
東日本大震災：福島第１原発事故 海外専門家も助言 ３チームで検証－－事故調
東京電力福島第１原発事故の原因を究明する「事故調査特別委員会」（仮称）の概要が１１日判明した。菅直人首相が指名する法律や地震の専門家ら約１０人で構成。海外の専門家による外部組織の助言も受ける。設置について近く閣議決定する。
事故をめぐっては、東電や政府の初期対応の遅れ、海外諸国への説明不足、原子力安全を担う原子力安全委員会の機能不全などに批判が集まった。このため委員会は事故の検証に加え、原子力安全規制の改革にも踏み込む方針だ。本委員会の下に（１）事故原因（２）被害拡大防止対策の検証（３）法規制のあり方－－の三つの検討チームを設置。原因調査究明について「国民に開かれた中立的な立場で多角的に行う」としている。
委員会は、原子炉工学、地震学、放射線安全学などの専門家や法曹界、財界、地元自治体代表らで構成。真相解明のため必要に応じて、関係閣僚や官僚、電力会社、国際原子力機関（ＩＡＥＡ）関係者に出席を要請する。一方で海外の専門家による助言組織を設置。米、仏、露など原発を抱える国の専門家に参加を依頼する。
委員会は内閣直轄とし、調査・検証の対象となる省庁以外の職員で事務局を構成する。年内に中間報告、来年夏をめどに最終報告をまとめる。
枝野幸男官房長官は１１日の会見で「（検証）結果だけではなく、プロセスも含めて全面公開したい」と述べ、情報公開を進める考えを示した。【足立旬子】
英訳毎日新聞 2011年5月12日 東京朝刊
