On 31st May 2002, the 36th Safety Caravan was held at Onagawa Nuclear Power Station of Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. located in both Onagawa-cho and Oshika-cho, Oshika-gun, Miyagi Prefecture.

Safety Presentation

About 100 persons including Onagawa Nuclear Power Station staff and personnel from cooperating companies attended the safety presentation. The head of the power station opened the safety presentation with the following speech: "As safe conditions continue over a long period of time, safety awareness wanes. Today's safety caravan is very significant to awaken the safety consciousness in us. I would like you to strive to uplift safety awareness".

Following the speech, Mr. Tanaka, general manager of NSnet Safety Division, introduced the activities of NSnet and then a lecturer formerly of the Japan Atomic Power Company made a presentation entitled "Readiness for Nuclear Safety"

The lecturer touched on such topics as the following:
- Each worker's posture for safety: "it is necessary for a worker to do his job with the perception that nuclear power is potentially hazardous", "each worker must acquire essential culture of nuclear power", and "the safety of a whole power station is sustained by each worker's safety work"; and
- Encouraging words: "nuclear energy is necessary for mankind. As staff engaged in nuclear energy, let us continue our work confidently with our heads held high".

Following that, a lecturer from Mitsubishi Electric Corporation gave a talk entitled "Safety and Quality Improvement Activities at Field Operations in Mitsubishi Electric Corporation". The talk included the following:
- Introduction of "Nonconformity cases at field operations in Mitsubishi and the results of their analysis" and "Activities for prevention of operational mistakes" with actual examples; and
- Reference to prior analysis of human errors (called MAPLE analysis), which is an approach Mitsubishi is taking as a new challenge to prevent operational mistakes.

Discussion session

In the discussion session, NSnet introduced the concept of how Peer Review is implemented and gave some good practices selected from the reviews, as well as members' web sites and tools for safety education and training.Meanwhile, Tohoku Electric Company introduced their "Declaration of safe operation of Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant" and how they are working on fostering safety culture and boosting moral. Then a discussion was held and the following opinion was expressed: Conducting Peer Review imposes a burden. However, I think it is meaningful for both parties because we can exchange opinions. I would think, in the future, it will be necessary to have a meeting with a focus on sharing information.