Press Releases 2015

IAEA FINDS KK DEFENSES ARE COMPREHENSIVE AND ROBUST, TEPCO ADOPTS ADDITIONAL SAFETY RECOMMENDATIONS Detailed report on safety finds strong accident protection measures in place, praises frequent drills and staff readiness

TOKYO, Dec. 10 - The International Atomic Energy Agency, following a review of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station, found that the facility has implemented comprehensive and robust defenses against severe accidents, and praised its frequent safety drills and overall readiness.

The IAEA report made several additional safety recommendations that TEPCO has already begun adopting, ranging from improved worker safety to improvements in fire safety.

The IAEA review of Units 6 and 7 at KK, which was conducted from June 29 through July 13, is not a regulatory review or a formal part of TEPCO's request for government approval to restart the facility. But it is part of TEPCO's continuing commitment to collaborate with international organizations to ensure that KK is not only the largest, but also the safest, nuclear power plant in the world.

"We will carefully consider the recommendations and suggestions given, and from now on, plan for what should be done by incorporating the findings and improving upon them. Although certain good practices were acknowledged, we will continue to apply these assessments while making improvements on them." said Yokomura Tadayuki the Plant Chief of KK.

Findings and Recommendations

The detailed, 67-page report, addressed leadership and management for safety, training and qualifications of KK personnel, overall operations, emergency planning and preparedness, and other matters. It drew three overall conclusions:

* Following the March 2011 accident at Fukushima Daiichi, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa has implemented comprehensive and robust defenses against severe accidents, including additional tsunami and internal flood protection measures as well as enhanced installed and mobile back-up electrical power supplies, pumps and heat exchangers.

* The station carries out frequent drills in challenging scenarios to ensure the station personnel are well-prepared to deal with emergencies even under difficult environmental conditions.

* The station has established thorough control of all combustible materials and ignition sources to minimize fire risk. In response to additional recommendations in this area, TEPCO said it will strengthen its fire protection plan to clarify expectations of firefighters, and use drills to identify any shortcomings or technology needs.

In addition to those main findings, it offered recommendations for further improvement in safety, which TEPCO has pledged to implement:

* Systems to gather operating experience in the different management areas in the station should be integrated and the information collected should be used more proactively to detect and correct low level issues before they become significant, and enable the station to better exchange ‘lessons-learned' with the rest of the nuclear industry. TEPCO will strengthen its oversight of contractors and improve the management skills of KK personnel.

* The existing severe accident management guidance should be enhanced to cover all plant conditions including potential events involving the spent fuel pools. TEPCO will create a more robust internal emergency action plan.
The plan will cover basic response plans and a booklet will be created to illustrate response procedures for each team.

* The IAEA report recommended wider checks for potential diffusion of radiation, and installation of monitoring devices in several additional locations. TEPCO will expand radiation monitoring, initially by contamination examination staff and soon by monitoring devices.

The IAEA review team was composed of experts from Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Slovakia, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States and the collective nuclear power experience of the team was approximately 350 years. During the course of the review, the team reviewed many of the station's programs and procedures in depth, examined indicators of plant performance, witnessed work in progress, the behaviours of workers and management, and held in-depth discussions with workers at the station.
The review was part of IAEA's Operational Safety Review Team program, which assists member states in the safe operation of nuclear power plants.

The IAEA review footage can be found from the following link
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1005639026162063&set=vb.415607698498535&type=2&theater

The full report can be downloaded at
http://www.tepco.co.jp/cc/press/betu15_j/images/151210j0103.pdf(PDF 685KB)

Attachments
The IAEA OSART Review(PDF 261KB)
IAEA OSART review-results-list Recommendations(PDF 114KB)

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 34,000 employees are committed to providing safe, reliable power to its 29.0 million customers, diversifying energy resources to ensure sustainability, and contributing to economic growth while fully meeting its responsibilities after the Fukushima Daiichi accident.
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