The Nuclear Regulation Authority, a new body founded in September 2012, has finalised a set of rules and safety guidelines to govern the country's nuclear plants. The new rules will mark the first time nuclear guidelines have been legally binding in Japan, as previous standards were adhered to on a voluntary basis.

It will be late this year or early 2014 before plants begin reopening, however, as currently idle plants will be subject to rigorous testing by the new authority before being granted permission to recommence operations.

Operators such as embattled TEPCO - the company responsible for the Fukushima plant, who received 1 trillion Yen (approximately €8 billion) in emergency Japanese state funding last year - will have to develop better tsunami & earthquake defences alongside more in-depth emergency response procedures. 

The announcement that the plants will be reopening comes just hours after reports that high levels of Strontium-90, a toxic and cancer-causing by-product of nuclear fission, were found in the groundwater at Fukushima. 

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other officials have been pushing to get Japan's nuclear reactors back in operation for commercial reasons and to relieve pressure on the electrical infrastructure. However, research has found around 3 out of 5 Japanese citizens are against recommencing nuclear operations. 

Experts have stressed the need to not rush the new guidelines and standards. Talking to the New York Times, Dr. Kazuhiko Kudo said "the guidelines certainly go much further in addressing nuclear safety. Still, the new regulator must show that it stands on the side of the public, not the nuclear operators, or it, too, will be discredited.”

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