Release
February 29, 2016

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", "Result of company-wide emergency drill" and "Cabinet approval of the Amendment Bill to the Spent Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Fund Act".

Status of Response to the New Regulatory Requirements

A review meeting on seismic safety was held twice this month. On February 12, JNFL explained "summary of active faults", and on February 19, JNFL explained "design-basis seismic ground motion" which is a precondition of seismic design of facilities. When it was explained that design-basis seismic ground motion will be set at 700gal, it was evaluated that it was reasonably examined.

For development of design-basis seismic ground motion, surveys were thoroughly conducted such as trench survey as well as boring survey and sonic prospecting on land and in the sea.

The result of the review meeting is a major step forward, and specific evaluations of seismic impact on facilities will be conducted based on this result.

A review meeting on reprocessing facilities was held on February 17, and JNFL explained the overview of "accidents that occur under more severe conditions than designed conditions".

In specific, accidents that are caused by "external events" such as earthquakes and lightning and "internal events" such as station black out, and countermeasures are organized in an "overall map" for each facility and it is enabled for progress of reviews to be managed.

Result of Company-wide Emergency Drill

On February 16, approximately 630 JNFL and contractor employees participated in a company-wide emergency drill simulating various accidents occurring simultaneously at JNFL’s four facilities - Reprocessing Plant, High-Level Radioactive Waste Storage Center, Uranium Enrichment Plant and Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Center.

In the drill, it was simulated that cooling functions for high-level waste liquid had stopped due to station black out, and response action to take in water with large transfer pump truck from ice-covered Lake Obuchinuma near the facility by breaking ice and connect to feedwater system was executed successfully.

By continuing to repeat various drills assuming a variety of situation, we ensure our responses to emergencies.

Cabinet Approval of the Amendment Bill to the Spent Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Fund Act

In the cabinet bill approved by the Cabinet on February 5, it was stipulated that the "spent fuel reprocessing organization" will be newly established as an implementing body and that the organization can outsource business to licensees of reprocessing activity stipulated in the Act on Control of Nuclear Reactors, etc. with the purpose to secure safety.

From this, it is likely that JNFL will continue to advance the cycle business, substantially being entrusted by the organization. We will take this seriously and continue to proactively enhance management efficiency and governance with safety first.