June 13, 2012
Tokyo Electric Power Company
On June 13, the front page of the Asahi Newspaper said "TEPCO Missed the Opportunity to Implement Protection Measures against the Massive Tsunami though It Was Assumed in 2006". The facts are provided below.
Though this article sounds as if the actual Tsunami was assumed in 2006, it was merely a case study done in our employee training program*1 (targeted for the employees in their third year who belong to the Nuclear Power Division) which was inspired by the Overflows Study Panel*2 jointly held by the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization. Similarly to the Overflows Study Panel, the case study included an impact assessment (as well as necessary protection measures and cost estimation) assuming a massive Tsunami with a precondition that safety against Tsunami is assured. The case study was done with the sole purpose of employee education and was not in anyway based on actual predictions of Tsunami. Some of the documents created in the employee training are used in the Overflows Study Panel.
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*1 Employee education program: A 3-month employee training program targeted for those in their third year who belong to the Nuclear Division, which is held by the Nuclear Power Division at our Headquarter. During the training, attendees work on the study theme under the supervision of superior authority. The aim of the training is to enhance task analysis skills, solution proposition skills, cost-consciousness and presentation skills, and the attendees are evaluated based on these skills rather than the actual contents of the documents created.
*2 Overflows Study Panel: A study panel established in January 2006 by the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization. Members of the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan and the electricity utilities participate in the study panel as observers. In the study panel, past issues related to nuclear power stations are discussed (For example, the design vulnerability of the damaged pipes which led to equipments flooding at a nuclear power station in the United States and the seawater pump flooding which occurred at a nuclear power station in India due to the Tsunami that came after the earthquake in the Indian Ocean off Sumatra). The deliverables of the study panel were made available to the public in the Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization 2007 Annual Report" ("overflows study tasks").
© Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc.
