The global nuclear power industry needs to share cross-border information to prevent accidents, replicating the transparency of international air traffic control, said the head of the investigation into the disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant.
Nuclear plant operators and regulators need an international common language and standard for investigating and preventing disasters, Kiyoshi Kurokawa, who headed the Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission, one of the panels that investigated the calamity, said in an interview last week in Tokyo.
The airline industry offers a model in the use of flight and voice data recorders, known as black boxes, as a globally accepted means of recording and investigating accidents, he said. The transparency derived from intrusive international oversight in the nuclear industry is necessary to prevent the collusion that contributed to the Fukushima disaster, Kurokawa said. That isn't happening yet with the Nuclear Regulation Authority.
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