An IAEA expert mission will conduct a visit to Japan next week to assist the nation's development of a comprehensive assessment of the safety of existing nuclear power plants.

Arranged at the request of the Japanese government, the IAEA International Complementary Safety Assessment Review Mission will conduct its visit from 23 to 31 January. The team will hold meetings with Japanese officials in Tokyo and conduct a site visit to the Ohi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukui Prefecture. The 10-member team will consist of IAEA nuclear experts and international specialists.

"I appreciate the invitation from the government of Japan to conduct this important safety mission and I look forward to our interactions with our Japanese counterparts," said IAEA team leader James Lyons, Director of the IAEA's Nuclear Installation Safety Division.

Japan's request for the mission follows the approval of the Nuclear Safety Action Plan by all IAEA Member States in September 2011. The Action Plan defines a programme of work to strengthen the global nuclear safety framework, and it calls for nations to promptly undertake a national assessment of the design of nuclear power plants against extreme natural hazards and to implement corrective actions as needed.

Japan's nuclear regulator, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, has prepared an approach to assessing nuclear power plant safety and the IAEA mission will review that approach and provide findings and recommendations to NISA.