Change of the Reprocessing Plant's completion date

• Following the completion of study on measures for ensuring compliance with the New Regulatory Requirements, the Nuclear Regulation Authority presented its approach to the application of the New Regulatory Requirements on November 6. Since the Review on Conformity to the New Regulatory Requirements is the precondition for completing the Reprocessing Plant, it has been decided to extend the estimated completion date by one year to "October 2014".

Construction schedule of the Reprocessing Plant

• The Review on Conformity to the New Regulatory Requirements is expected to take six months, which is the same amount of time anticipated in the application for commercial nuclear reactors. For matters that also apply to nuclear reactors, such as design-basis earthquake ground motion and natural phenomena, the nuclear reactors' review results are to be reflected as much as possible. Reference materials to be sought in individual reviews following the application, are compiled in advance in full preparedness.
• All of the engineering works for compliance with the New Regulatory Requirements are currently being prepared, and are due to be completed during the review period with the exception of some of them. Portable equipment is also expected to be deployed in time. However, since some engineering works had to wait until after the approval of the Review on Conformity to the New Regulatory Requirements, the overall construction period is set for ten months after the filing of the application, while the post-approval construction period extends for four months.
• The pre-operation inspections of the vitrification facility and the review of the report on subsequent active tests are incorporated into the schedule on the assumption that they can be carried out swiftly upon application approval.
• JNFL regrets another extension of the completion date, even though this is to ensure compliance with the New Regulatory Requirements. Company-wide efforts are made to treat the task as a major opportunity to reconfirm the plant's safety from scratch.

Specific responses for compliance with the New Regulatory Requirements

• For the Reprocessing Plant, the New Regulatory Requirements apply stricter standards than before against "natural phenomena", "fires / explosions" and "earthquakes", and stipulate additional measures against "severe accidents" and "damages caused by internal flooding".
• In regard to "severe accidents", JNFL introduces response measures against seven types of events that go beyond the scope of accidents anticipated in conventional plant designs (e.g. "criticality in fuel cells"), defining them as "severe accident countermeasure events".
• In regard to damages caused by internal flooding, JNFL installs waterproof boards and waterproof doors to protect important-to-safety facilities in the event of on-site equipment / pipe damage or ground motions triggering the overflow of Spent Fuel Storage Pool water.
• For the prevention of damage from external impact, JNFL has identified the need to establish preparedness against, for example, tornadoes of the largest scale anticipated in the Rokkasho region. It is installing protective netting made of steel for outdoor facilities with safety functionality, e.g. equipment for the safety coolant system.
• For the prevention of damage from earthquakes, the New Regulatory Requirements demand that licensees determine the design-basis earthquake ground motion based on earthquakes at specific hypocenters (Interpolate earthquakes, Inside inland earth's crust earthquakes and Slab earthquakes) and earthquakes with non-specific hypocenters based on latest knowledge. JNFL is re-investigating active faults around the facility site, and reflecting the status of recent seismic activities.
• In regard to ground motions at specific hypocenters, assessment has been carried out hypothetically anticipating an interpolate earthquake measuring 9 on the Richter scale based on the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake, and a large-scale
  Inside oceanic plate earthquake (Slab earthquake) equivalent to the 2011 Miyagi Offshore Earthquake (7.2 on the Richter scale) occurring near the plant site. As for ground motions with no specific hypocenters, JNFL has conducted assessment in line with the approach described in the New Regulatory Requirements to "gather seismic observation records taken near hypocenters to set the design-basis earthquake ground motion for the site".
• The assessment has pointed to the ground motion of no more than 450 Gal, which is the design-basis earthquake ground motion adopted in the 2006 seismic safety evaluation. Allowing additional safety tolerance, the assessment has set the design-basis earthquake ground motion of 600 Gal.
• Detailed impact assessment on the existing facilities' seismic safety, based on the revised design-basis earthquake ground motion, has confirmed the seismic safety of Class S equipment, which is subject to the tightest requirements in conventional seismic designs. JNFL therefore considers it unnecessary to apply seismic reinforcement.
• For compliance with the New Regulatory Requirements, JNFL plans to apply seismic reinforcement to some of the equipment to be newly classified as Class S. The company's voluntary surveys on faults in land areas near or on the site have shown no factors that would overturn the findings of past assessments.
• As for waste storage facilities (facilities for storing and managing vitrified waste returned from overseas), the New Regulatory Requirements added the new requirement of "preventing criticality in nuclear fuel materials". Since vitrified waste contains only a limited amount of nuclear fission materials, there is no possibility of criticality, making it unnecessary to adopt new measures. Since existing equipment is sufficient at these facilities, there is no need for seismic reinforcement. No reinforcement is also necessary against natural phenomena, e.g. tornadoes, concerning the requirement to prevent damage from external impact.
• The New Regulatory Requirements added the requirement to "prevent the expansion of severe accidents" for uranium enrichment facilities.In response, JNFL is further expanding the existing collection of protective clothing and tools such as closing tools, already deployed in preparedness for uranium hexafluoride leakage.Re-assessment of the facilities' seismic safety has confirmed their compliance with the New Regulatory Requirements, making it unnecessary to apply seismic reinforcement or conduct engineering tasks for compliance.
• The provisions of the New Regulatory Requirements for MOX fuel fabrication facilities are almost identical to those for the Reprocessing Plant. The requirement to adopt measures against severe accidents has been added. However, assessment on "criticality" and the "loss of the containment functionality" has confirmed that there is no likelihood of the facilities leading to a severe accident, making it unnecessary to adopt countermeasures.
• Since the MOX Fuel Fabrication Plant is currently under construction, JNFL firstly files an application of design change for compliance, and seeks approval for designs and construction methods according to each stage of construction.
• The New Regulatory Requirements have added the requirement to have "monitoring facilities for groundwater level, etc." at underground disposal facilities for low-level waste. However, these facilities are exempt from back-fitting, as the New Regulatory Requirements do not demand compliance for facilities that already have their permit obtained. The revised rules on underground disposal seek "periodic assessment", and JNFL plans to file an application for the permit to amend the Technical Specifications.
• Prior to filing an application with the government to obtain license change permit for compliance with the New Regulatory Requirements, JNFL has today submitted a request for understanding to Aomori Prefecture and Rokkasho Village based on the Safety Agreement.

(See attached for more details)
[Response to the New Regulatory Requirements at the Rokkasho Nuclear Fuel Cycle Facilities]