Safety Presentation

At the beginning of the presentation, General Manager of Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc.'s Ohi Power Plant, Mr. Yoshio Hida, greeted the participants by saying, "NS Net was created for the purpose of getting companies related to nuclear power in Japan to exchange information, point out each other's good points and bad points and create a better nuclear power industry. During today's presentation, I believe it will be introduced and explained how other companies perform the same activities that we do. Today, we should reevaluate how we perform our activities to decide whether they are good and sufficient and then reflect that reevaluation in our everyday activities. This is one thing that I wish all of you to take away with you today."

After the greeting the NS Net Division introduced the activity policies of the Japan Nuclear Technology Institute and the status of activities of the NS Net Division after which Mr. Yoshihisa Takakura, Director and Assistant Office Manager of the Tohoku Radiation Science Center, gave a presentation entitled, "A Series of Trouble at Nuclear Power Plants"

Lecture highlights

Mr. Takakura spoke from his experience on the front lines of nuclear power safety in Fukui Prefecture, introducing issues such as cracks in the shroud at TEPCO, cracks in the pipeline for the recirculation system and corruption related to storage container leakage percentage inspections. Furthermore, Mr. Takakura talked about some very important things such as:

○Due to this series of scandals, not only is assurance of "safety" from a technological standpoint, but also a response to these incidents that allows the local community to "feel at ease", is being demanded. In response, along with disclosing information online, engaging in reoccurrence prevention countermeasures, visiting each household and sponsoring explanatory meetings at congregation centers, etc., as part of explanatory activities for the community, holding explanatory meetings inside TEPCO facilities and also at companies inside the complex, TECPO is also actively cooperating with the "Town Information Meeting" and the "Community Meeting to Assure Transparency at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa Nuclear Power Station".
(There was an introduction of the Fukui nuclear power station program on FTV (Fukushima Television))

○Even though we are technologically safe we are not socially reliable. As technicians, that is not a good thing. Therefore, in order to definitively handle the situation, it is extremely important to explain technological safety in an easy-to-understand manner and obtain the community's understanding. It is this type of quiet perseverance that will ultimately result in having the community feel at ease.
The following opinions were expressed in the survey filled out after the presentation concluded:

○At our company, we are presently implementing the Mihama Unit 3 Accident Reoccurrence Prevention Action Plan and the examples given by Tokyo Electric Company were of great help. It is very difficult to prove safety and to obtain trust, but I think the only way to achieve this is to continue to improve transparency so people will understand as Mr. Takakura mentioned. Thank you very much.

○ There was much useful information in regards to trouble points, reoccurrence prevention measures, and information disclosure as well as communicating with the local community.

○ I was able to understand just how hard it is to deal with nuclear power trouble. As an affiliated company, I really felt the necessity to improve cooperation.

Safety information exchange session

During the Safety Information Exchange Session

(1)Introduction of endeavors and exchanges of opinions

During the safety information exchange session, Mr. Kenji Nishimura from the Manufacturing Group at the Uranium Fuel Center gave a detailed explanation of cultivating safety culture using GNF-J integrity as a base.

In addition, the Mr. Noriyuki Maeda, Manager of Office of Quality Assurance at Kansai Electric's Ohi Power Plant, introduced the status of implementing communication activities between Kansai Electric and its affiliated companies.

After the introduction, information and opinions in regards to the above activities and efforts were exchange.

(2) Other

The NS Net Division explained about databases and information related to nuclear power safety culture cultivation that the NS Net Division has.