Press Releases 2013

Today, we submitted to the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) the application for permission for changes in reactor installation, approval for construction plans, and approval for changes in the technical specification for nuclear reactor facility, to receive the regulatory standard compliance examination of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station Units 6 and 7.

The conditions provided in the "conditional approval of the application for the regulatory standard compliance examination of the Units 6 and 7 of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station", which we received yesterday from Niigata Prefecture, are noted clearly in the application documents submitted to the NRA.

Since the accident occurred at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in March 2011, we have continuously implemented additional measures to enhance the safety of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station. The representative additional measures include:
- Deployment of fire engines, power supply vehicles, etc. and conduction of training (the implementation status was reported to the government on April 21, 2011)
- Installation of a seawall (completed in June 2013)
- Deployment of air-cooled gas turbine generator vehicles, etc. (completed in March 2012)
- Deployment of alternative heat exchanger vehicles (completed in March 2013)

Recognizing the importance of receiving the NRA's objective evaluation of the measures implemented so far, we decided to submit the application for the regulatory standard compliance examination to the NRA for its judgment on the Units 6 and 7.

Main safety measures important in terms of compliance with the new regulatory standards include the following:
- Countermeasures against natural phenomena (earthquakes, tsunami, and other natural phenomena (such as tornados and volcanic activities))
- Countermeasures against flooding inside buildings
- Measures to prevent fires
- Measures to reinforce systems to receive power from outside the plant
- Countermeasures against severe accidents^*

For further details, please refer to the following attachments.

·Attachment 1:
Application for Examination as to Compliance with the New Regulatory Standards of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station Units 6 and 7 (PDF 500KB)

·Attachment 2:
Compliance Efforts with New Regulatory Standards and Implementation Status of Safety Measures at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station Units 6 and 7 (PDF 108KB)
(This document is available only in Japanese. We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause.)

* Accidents in which a reactor core or a contained fuel body is severely damaged. The countermeasures include damage prevention measures and effect mitigation measures to be taken after damage has occurred.