April 26, 2013

Monthly Press Conference

Today, President Kawai held a monthly press conference in Aomori City and talked about the "Status of the Reprocessing Plant" and "Considerations of the New Regulation Standards on Nuclear Fuel Facilities by the Nuclear Regulation Authority".

"Status of the Reprocessing Plant"

  • The heating operation of System A of the glass melter on the vitrification tests began on April 17.
  • In May, it is scheduled to perform operations to ensure successful vitrification tests, using simulated glass beads to confirm discharge flow. The vitrification test using actual waste liquid is scheduled to start also in May at the earliest.
  • If the series of work progresses steadily, the final test item of the active testing should be completed by the end of May or early June.
  • A variety of challenges have been overcome for the Vitrification Facility. If the latest series of tests progresses steadily, all the testing items that JNFL needs to carry out before the pre-operation inspection will be completed.
  • JNFL shall follow the new regulation standards when it is announced and goes into effect. However, as for the pre-operation inspection for the Vitrification Facility, since remaining tests are for confirming the Facility's processing capacity, and not for confirming the functions directly related to safety, JNFL is asking to the Authority for its implementation.

"Considerations of the New Regulation Standards on Nuclear Fuel Facilities by the Nuclear Regulation Authority"

  • On April 15, the Nuclear Regulation Authority began exploring matters concerning the new regulation standards for the nuclear fuel facilities. The Nuclear Regulation Authority has presented its basic policy in examining this matter, the structure of the draft regulation standards and response policy, while also clearly indicating that the Reprocessing Plant has different characteristics to nuclear power stations.
  • In their future discussions, JNFL wishes to see the Nuclear Regulation Authority to continue to keep the difference between the Reprocessing Plant and nuclear power plant in mind and organize an opportunity to directly hear the opinions of licensees.