January 27, 2015

Monthly Press Conference

Today, President Kenji Kudo held a monthly press conference in Aomori City and talked about "Status of response to the New Regulatory Requirements" and "Company-wide Emergency Drill".

"Status of response to the New Regulatory Requirements"

  • In the three review meetings for the Reprocessing Facility convened in January, JNFL described the content of the correction statement, submitted at the end of last year, on severe accident preparedness with regard to ‘evaporation to dryness’,‘criticality accident’ and ‘spent fuel damage’.
  • Of five severe accident preparedness items, measures against ‘hydrogen explosion’ and ‘solvent fire’ will be submitted to the Nuclear Regulation Authority next week.
  • Two review meetings were conducted covering the MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility along with the Reprocessing Facility. JNFL explained the content of the correction statement on design basis standards, submitted at the end of last year.
  • Of the two severe accident preparedness items for MOX, measures against‘criticality’ will be submitted in the correction statement next week along with those for thereprocessing facility, while ‘containment’ measures will be examined further to prepare for their submission in the future.
  • The review meetings for seismic safety and the Uranium Enrichment Plant were also held this month. The results of the survey on the southern end of the Deto West Fault will be presented in a review meeting upon completion of drilling, along with the analysis results of seismic prospecting survey.

"Company-wide emergency drill"

  • On February 23, JNFL will conduct a company-wide emergency drill on the scenario of simultaneous emergencies including the loss of off-site power at the company’s four facilities, i.e. Reprocessing Plant, High-level Radioactive Waste Storage Center, Uranium Enrichment Plant and Low-level Radioactive Waste Disposal Center.
  • This is the third session of the annual drill, which has been conducted in mid-winter since FY2012.
    JNFL has also carried out various training in mid-winter and in after hours. The company will repeatedly conduct drills on a wide range of scenarios to establish full emergency preparedness.
  • The new Strategic Energy Plan, approved by the Cabinet in April last year, clearly states that the government will ‘promote’ the nuclear fuel cycle program. In order to establish ‘safety assurance’, which is the major premise of this government policy, JNFL will continue to make all-out efforts to achieve compliance with the New Regulatory Requirements. Continued efforts will also be made to improve technologies concerning the nuclear fuel cycle. JNFL will amass all of its strengths and resources to move forward further in our quest for establishing the nuclear fuel cycle under the mission of playing a part in Japan’s energy security.