UN team reviews Japan's nuclear stress tests

Tests conducted by Japan to prove the safety of its nuclear reactors is now being reviewed by UN nuclear experts.

The Vienna-based International Atomic Agency's team of 10 experts will be in Japan until Jan. 31, reports Reuters.

"We are conducting a review that they requested of their methodology and approach for conducting comprehensive safety assessments or stress tests," James Lyons, the leader of the IAEA team, told reporters.

Only five of the nation's 54 nuclear reactors remain in operation.

Japan's watchdog Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency completed a review of the tests last week, and announced that the reactors were capable of withstanding a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that wrecked the Fukushima plant.

The IAEA team is spending Monday and Tuesday meeting officials in Tokyo and will travel on Wednesday to the Ohi nuclear power station in Fukui prefecture, western Japan, for a firsthand look at how Japan's nuclear safety agency conducts the stress tests. It plans to present the results of their review on Jan. 31, Lyons said.

Regional governments hosting nuclear plants have so far refused their restarts to allow a probe about their safety through stress tests.

"We will not be focusing on whether or not its acceptable to restart any of the plants. That is totally a responsibility of the Japanese government and we would not make any determination in that area," Lyons said.

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Tags: nuclear stress test, Japanese nuclear power plants, IAEA, review