"Reschedule of the Reprocessing Plant’s completion timing"

• In the meeting convened yesterday, the Board of Directors has decided to revise the completion timing of the Reprocessing Plant from 'October 2014' to 'March 2016', and reported this change to Vice Governor Ikuo Sasaki and Prefectural Assembly Chairman Hiroetsu Abe; as well as, to the Vice Mayor Susumu Hashimoto and Assembly Chairman Takeichi Hashimoto of the Rokkasho village. The details of the Board decision are as follows:
• Based on the progress of review on JNFL’s facilities for compliance with the New Regulatory Requirements, and the Review status at Nuclear Regulation Authority for nuclear power plants, JNFL has decided to extend the completion timing by one year and five months to ‘March 2016’.
• JNFL cited the ‘review period’ as ‘approx. 6 months’ in January this year, but amended the outlook to ‘approx. 18 months’ in view of the review’s progress, JNFL’s considerations, and the review’s developments at nuclear power plants.
• JNFL estimated ‘engineering countermeasures’ to take ‘approx. 4 months’ after the completion of the review, but amended it to ‘approx. 9 months’ due to the need to implement additional work to counter internal flooding, which cannot be carried out until after obtaining a new permit.
• JNFL’s stance on ‘pre-operation inspections’, i.e. to receive the inspections during the period of implementing ‘countermeasures’, is unchanged.
• The partial correction of design-basis standards, submitted on August 29, are being reviewed, but JNFL plans to submit additional corrections to design-basis standards and severe accident countermeasures as they become available.
• Findings from the additional trench surveys, boring surveys and seismic reflection surveys, currently being carried out at the southern edge of the Deto West Fault, will be compiled into an interim report next month.
• The results of these surveys are to be explained to the Nuclear Regulation Authority in detail so that the efforts to comply with the New Regulatory Requirements will lead to the further improvement of safety and reliability.
• As for the fault on the outer edge of the continental shelf, JNFL is currently analyzing data from offshore boring and other surveys jointly conducted with Tohoku Electric Power Co.,Inc., Tokyo Electric Power Co.,Inc., and Recyclable-Fuel Storage Co.,Inc. Any findings will be reported as soon as analysis results are assessed.
• JNFL will continue to make company-wide efforts to work toward setting a new safety standard in establishing nuclear fuel cycle operations, keeping in mind that the company’s business can only be realized with the trust from local communities.
• The protracted testing of the Vitrification Facility was completed in May last year, establishing necessary technologies for the completion of the Reprocessing Plant.
• It is regrettable that the completion timing has to be pushed further back, even though it is due to the need to ensure full compliance with the New Regulatory Requirements. JNFL will put safety above all else in continuing its work according to the new schedule.
• JNFL wishes to gain continued understanding from the people of Rokkasho Village and the rest of Aomori Prefecture.

(See attached for more details)
[About changing the completion date of Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant]