Today, President Kenji Kudo held a monthly press conference in Aomori City and talked about "Status of response to the New Regulatory Requirements", "Debate about the Nuclear Fuel Cycle business in Intensified Competition" and "Women's Empowerment Initiatives at JNFL".

Status of Response to the New Regulatory Requirements

JNFL has reported at the review meeting on August 31 that the requirement of spent fuel to be reprocessed was changed from fuel that has been cooled for no less than 4 years to fuel that has been cooled for no less than 15 years, so as to reinforce measures against severe accidents. The move is designed to make such measures more effective by introducing a requirement to reduce the level of radiation and decay heat contained in spent fuel. On September 3, the Nuclear Regulation Authority Commissioner Satoru Tanaka and other officials were invited to the site to inspect facilities actually used in severe accident measures and protocols for severe accident response.

On August 28, a review meeting was held regarding geological faults within the JNFL site. JNFL explained that none of the faults within its site is active, and received response that the explanation was sufficient overall. With this response, JNFL believes that it has completed its explanation concerning this matter, which is a major step forward.

On August 26, the Nuclear Regulation Authority held an ad-hoc meeting, in which JNFL exchanged opinions with Commissioner Tanaka and other members, and explained and discussed its initiatives for safety improvement.

Debate about the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Business in Intensified Competition

On August 31, the third session of the Expert Working Group on the Development of the Environment for Nuclear Business was held to introduce a mechanism of creating a new licensee for reprocessing spent fuel, etc. and allowing the licensee to make maximum use of technologies, human resources and facilities accumulated by JNFL.
JNFL believes it is extremely important to accurately identify the current status of local communities and plant site, and maintain employees' sense of mission. Further debates should be made based on these factors and the sentiments of local people.

Women's Empowerment Initiatives at JNFL

JNFL is working on securing and fostering diverse human resources and building a positive workplace environment that is easy for all employees to work in. On April 1 this year, JNFL issued the Declaration of Women's Empowerment to reinforce its initiatives for this cause further. On August 5, JNFL received certification as a ‘Parenting Supporting Company’ by the Aomori Labor Bureau of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.