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On October 25 and 26, 2001, the 26th and 27th Safety Caravans were held at Mitsubishi Nuclear Fuel Co., Ltd. and at the Nuclear Development Corporation, which are located in Tokai-mura, Ibaraki Prefecture.
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| Safety Presentation |
About 70 people attended the safety presentation, including staff from both companies and staff of cooperating companies.
The executive vice president of Mitsubishi Fuel Co., Ltd., opened the lecture meeting with the following greetings: "A full two years have passed since the JCO criticality accident. We hope to continue our attentive stance and consistent efforts with regard to safety and thereby work to secure safety. Through today's presentation and discussion session, I hope that we can further deepen our safety consciousness and foster our safety culture."
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Safety Presentation
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Following introductions of NSnet activities, a lecturer from the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) gave a lecture titled "Protection activities at JAERI's Tokai Research Establishment," which included "Organizations and systems related to preventative activities," "A summary of activities at the JCO criticality accident," and the "Status of Tokai NOAH Agreement activities." |
He spoke in detail about the following points, which are important in securing safety in the nuclear power industry:
-Preparations of nuclear power operators with respect to safety consciousness, safety activities and accidents.
-Third-party evaluations of partnership and communication taking place among nuclear power operators.
-Active support and system of cooperation among all nuclear power operators on the off chance that an accident should occur.
After the safety presentation, the president of the Nuclear Development Corporation gave greetings, which included the following message: "Listening to the lecture, I clearly recalled the accident of two years ago, and became very emotional. Being stimulated in this way by other people, I now would like to make ever more concerted safety efforts, reflecting on our safety activities."
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Discussion session |
Discussion session
at Mitsubishi Nuclear Fuel Co., Ltd.
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At the discussion session, NSnet introduced favorable peer-review examples and its exclusive website for members, among other things. Then, Mitsubishi Nuclear Fuel introduced its efforts that have taken place after the accident, such as the promotion of a nuclear power in-house inspection system, the formulation of a corporate action plan, status checks of legal conformity, and its thoroughly implemented education and training programs.
After that, everyone engaged in discussion.
The main opinions to come out of the discussion included the following:
-We would like to effectively utilize the information obtained through the NSnet activities and the favorable examples from other companies in our in-house safety activities.
-Since the JCO accident, we have repeated training for notification and communication, and we have thus succeeded in being able to take quick and appropriate action.
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Discussion session
at Nuclear Development Corporation
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The Nuclear Development Corporation then introduced the status of its efforts, such as with respect to its company policies and employee action guidelines, safety management system, corporate PR activities, response to authority's inspection, in-house Radiation Safety Committee, safety education and training programs, in-house safety and security inspections, and the prior safety assurance meeting, and the like.
Following the introduction there was another discussion, from which were derived many opinions, including the following:
-I think it is necessary to be aggressive in this process of gathering data by departments in charge of such countermeasures dispatching essential staff to the site. It is also important to regularly relay information to such countermeasure departments, even if there is no development or change in the status of the situation.
-In the case of establishing new facilities or conducting new tests, in the past, the prior safety assurance meeting was held under the direction of managers. However, based on the peer review we received last year, we increased the opportunities to carry out the meetings based on active proposals from the people in charge, which has increased the safety consciousness of our employees. |
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