December 23, 2002

Findings of Investigations into Cause of Water Leakage in PWR Fuel Storage Pool of Spent Fuel Receiving/Storage Facility

Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited

JNFL identified the improper execution of work on a lining weld at the bottom of the pool in respect of the cause of water leakage in the PWR fuel storage pool and reported to the Japanese government and relevant authorities to this effect. Since then, JNFL has also conducted investigations in consideration of the investigation direction (dated November 20) issued by the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.  JNFL has compiled, based on the findings of investigation, the cause of penetration in the weld in question, the fact relevance of improper execution of work, and the remedial measures to be taken from now on into a report attached here to.  This affair was reported today to the Japanese government, Aomori Prefecture and Rokkasho-mura village.