I am Takashi Dodo, continuing to serve as the Executive Director of JANTI.

The accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, has shaken the foundation of Japan's nuclear industry. Its failure to prevent such an accident has raised questions about the capabilities of nuclear engineers in this country.As an organization that has been involved in safety improvement through private-sector safety initiatives, we see the need to re-examine what JANTI should be like.

Designing and building nuclear facilities requires setting various conditions based on scientific data concerning various factors including natural phenomena.The conditions must not only meet the requirements of laws, regulations, specifications and standards, but also encompass all information available so that engineers and licensees of nuclear facilities can refer to them with a sense of social responsibility.Engineers are required to constantly question whether the conditions are sufficient, consider the possible impact of an event that surpasses the defined conditions, and explore measures that could minimize the impact.The recent accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station has cast a profound question on all parties involved in nuclear energy.Needless to say, we must take a humble approach in examining existing facilities themselves in addition to possible natural phenomena.

Under such requirements, deeply re-considering what is expected of JANTI and the meaningful role JANTI could take, JANTI should gather operating experiences and other associated data, compile domestic and overseas knowledge into structured codes and standards, and instill the social missions demanded of engineers and licensee organizations.Other roles include proliferating and developing safety culture in frontline operations, implementing Peer Reviews to facilitate mutual learning within the nuclear energy industry, maintaining and preparing the technological foundation to steadily raise the quality of facility maintenance, and engaging in human resource development, which is the premise of all our activities.It is necessary to ask ourselves what roles nuclear engineers should play in every aspect of our activities, and make maximum use of lessons learned in the Fukushima Daiichi accident in reviewing individual activities.