Press Release
TEPCO’s Reply to the Notification of Order Issued by NRA in Accordance with Article 43.3.23 Paragraph 2 of the Act on the Regulation of Nuclear Source Material, Nuclear Fuel Material and Reactors
April 7, 2021
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc.
TEPCO would once again like to sincerely apologize for the great concern and suspicion that it has caused amongst regional residents, and society as a whole, as a result of the incident involving the unauthorized use of an ID card, and the partial loss of function to nuclear material protection equipment at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station.
On March 31, the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) notified TEPCO of its order issued in accordance with Article 43.3.23 paragraph 2 of the Act on the Regulation of Nuclear Source Material, Nuclear Fuel Material and Reactor that states, “TEPCO may not move specified nuclear fuel material at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station until the NRA notifies TEPCO that the nuclear regulatory inspection handling category stipulated for the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station has been changed to Category 1, and granted TEPCO an opportunity to submit a letter of explanation by the deadline of April 7.
(Already announced on March 31, 2021 )
TEPCO has reviewed the contents of this notice and conveyed to the Nuclear Regulation Authority today that it has no intention of submitting a letter of explanation.
Considering that the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) has reached the conclusion that TEPCO, “failed to inspect, maintain [nuclear material protection equipment],” and “failed to perform regular assessments and improvements,” as stated in “2. Facts that are the causes of the adverse dispositions,” it is TEPCO’s assumption that through NRA inspections, etc., the NRA has deemed the contents of inspections and maintenance, and regular assessments and improvements that TEPCO has been implementing in compliance with the Ministerial Ordinance for Commercial Power Reactors Concerning the Installation, Operation etc. to be insufficient in terms of effectiveness.
TEPCO takes this regulatory action and the indications from the Nuclear Regulation Authority very seriously. Upper management will take the lead in ascertaining the fundamental causes of this rash of incidents from all perspectives, and engage in drastic reforms.
