Today, President Kenji Kudo held a monthly press conference in Aomori City and talked about "Status of response to the New Regulatory Requirements" and "Welcome Ceremony for New Employees in FY2016"

Status of Response to the New Regulatory Requirements

In the review meeting held on March 28, JNFL explained about accidents that occur under more severe conditions than designed conditions.

JNFL employed the overall map presented in the previous review meeting, which organizes countermeasures and anticipated accidents by facility, to describe the basis of accident-inducing conditions and fundamental concepts for consequential initial responses.

As a result, a reviewer pointed out the need to re-provide a comprehensive explanation not only about responses to bring the accident under control but also about initial firefighting and rescuing the injured under fire outbreaks.

A review meeting for the MOX fuel fabrication plant was held on the same day. JNFL explained designs and evaluations for accidents involving criticality or fire explosions, and received general understanding from reviewers.

In terms of seismic safety, JNFL explained at February 19th review meeting about setting the design-basis seismic ground motion at 700 gal. Reviewers showed a general understanding that this is a reasonable examination.

JNFL is now analyzing bedrock stability regarding the design-basis seismic ground motion, and is also preparing seismic evaluations for all kinds of facilities, including equipment and pipes of each building.

Welcome Ceremony for New Employees in FY2016

A welcome ceremony for FY2016 will be held on April 1 for 100 new employees; 70 of them are from Aomori Prefecture.

In FY2017, JNFL plans recruiting a workforce similar to FY2016 to advance reprocessing and other business. The number of hired women is to account for 25% or more of the next fiscal year’s new recruits in a drive to further accelerate the participation of women.