 These organizations are government-funded research organizations, though many of them have special status to give them power of administration separate from the Japanese government.Their origins date back to the Atomic Energy Basic Law, but they have been reorganized several times since their inception.Long one of the world's most committed promoters of civilian nuclear power, Japan's nuclear industry was not hit as hard by the effects of the 1979 Three Mile Island accident (USA) or the 1986 Chernobyl disaster (USSR) as some other countries.