Fukushima Daiichi NPS Prompt Report 2014

TOKYO, May 1 -Continued progress in cleaning up the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station was mixed with setbacks in the most recently completed fiscal year, according to a quarterly progress report released today by the Tokyo Electric Power Co., which owns the plant.

The report addresses not only progress at Fukushima Daiichi, which was crippled by the tsunami that followed the March 2011 earthquake, but also the company's other two nuclear facilities as well as its overall safety culture.

The current safe and largely uneventful removal of fuel from Fukushima Daiichi's Unit 4 has been a major accomplishment, the report notes, as has been the continued safe "cold shutdown" of the nearby Fukushima Daini NPS, which did not suffer the same damage.

The report also notes the significant strengthening of TEPCO's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa NPS, the world's largest nuclear power plant, which the company has asked the Japanese government for permission to restart.

The report recognizes shortcomings, in particular the various leaks and other mishaps related to the management of contaminated water on the Fukushima Daiichi site. But it also notes that addressing water will be the first priority of the new entity created by TEPCO specifically to focus on the Fukushima cleanup.

International Advisers

The document is one of a series of quarterly reports on progress toward accomplishing the goals set out in TEPCO's Nuclear Safety Reform Plan, and was issued in time for the May 1 meeting of the Nuclear Reform Monitoring Committee, a group of international experts that has been advising TEPCO in the aftermath of the Fukushima accident.

Dr. Dale Klein, chairman of the Monitoring Committee and former chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said, "While I am disappointed by TEPCO's continuing struggles with the challenge of contaminated water, I am optimistic about the future, based on the overall progress that has been made and on the seriousness with which the new Decontamination and Decommissioning Company is addressing the water problems."

Lady Barbara Judge CBE, deputy chairman of the Monitoring Committee and former Chairman of the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority, addressed the role of TEPCO's Nuclear Safety Oversight Office, which is charged with day-to-day monitoring of TEPCO's progress. "I am pleased," she said, "that the Nuclear Safety Oversight Office is now fully functional and is providing the rigorous oversight that is needed to instill a safety culture at TEPCO. The candor of this report, and the willingness of the TEPCO Board and the company's executives to agree to carry out the　recommendations of the NSOO, are very encouraging."

The summary of the report at http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu14_e/images/140501e0101.pdf

About TEPCO

Tokyo Electric Power Company, Inc. (TEPCO) is Japan's largest power company, supplying energy to the greater Kanto area, including Japan's two most populous cities, Tokyo and Yokohama. Its 35,000 employees are committed to providing safe, reliable power to its 28.8 million customers, diversifying energy resources to ensure sustainability, and contributing to economic growth while fully meeting its responsibilities after the Fukushima Daiichi accident.
TEPCO website: http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/index-e.html
TEPCO Facebook page: http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/facebook/index-e.html