July 31, 2014

Monthly Press Conference

Today, President Kenji Kudo held a monthly press conference in Aomori City and talked about the "Review on Compliance with the New Regulatory Requirements" and "Discussions on Future Energy Policies".

"Review on Compliance with the New Regulatory Requirements"

  • JNFL is currently undertaking tasks pointed out in past Review Meetings, e.g. preparing a revised application form.
  • In the course of preparing the application, any unclear points regarding the interpretation of the New Regulatory Requirements will be consulted with the administration body, and determine the basic approach. As expressed at the last monthly press conference, made on July 1st., the most important task at hand for now is to prepare for the Compliance Review regarding the New Regulatory Requirements. JNFL will continue to make all-out efforts to address this task.
  • JNFL recognizes that it is realistically very difficult to achieve the scheduled October 2014 completion regarding construction of the Reprocessing Plant in view of the progress of the Review Meeting.
    Although we don't intend to abandon the October completion schedule at this stage, JNFL will observe carefully the progress of ongoing Review Meetings, as well as the Review Meetings status of other nuclear power plants, and judge about the new schedule for the Reprocessing Plant.

"Discussions on Future Energy Policies"

  • Based on the Basic Energy Plan approved by the Cabinet in April this year, the Nuclear Energy Subcommittee began discussions on future application of the Plan on the 19th of last month.
  • The Basic Energy Plan positions nuclear power generation as "an important base-load power source, contributing to stability of energy supply-demand structure", and expresses commitment to continuing to promote the nuclear fuel cycle, undertaken by JNFL, while making efforts to obtain the understanding of local governments and the international community.
  • Under such circumstances, the Nuclear Energy Subcommittee cites the reduction of reliance on nuclear energy as one of the discussion items. Yet, it is absolutely necessary to maintain nuclear power generation at a certain level into the future from the perspectives of addressing issues such as energy security and global warming, and keeping related technologies and human resources.
  • Based on the basic policy of promoting the nuclear fuel cycle, the Subcommittee is to explore how the program should be carried forward systematically on the grand premise of safety assurance.
  • The nuclear fuel cycle is extremely important from the perspectives of effectively utilizing uranium resources, reducing radioactive waste, and decreasing its hazardous level.
  • In future discussions, JNFL urges the Subcommittee to fully take into account Japan's extremely resource-poor status as well as the sentiments of local communities hosting nuclear facilities.
  • JNFL is committed to making company-wide efforts to establish the nuclear fuel cycle, while continuing to give top priority to safety.