Summary of 1st Chief Nuclear Officer Conference
1. Date :2. Place:

October, 3, 2014 (Fri) 10:00AM ～ 12:30PM
Otemachi Headquater, Central Research Institute of Electric Power
Industry (CRIEPI)
3. Participants:
Chair: G. Apostolakis (NRRC)
Members: Maki (Hokkaido EPCO, substitute for Sakai), Inoue (Tohoku EPCO),
Anegawa (Tokyo EPCO), Sakaguchi (Chubu EPCO), Yonehara (Hokuriku EPCO,substitute for Kanai), Toyomatsu (Kansai EPCO), Furubayashi (Chugoku EPCO),
Kakinoki (Shikoku EPCO), Shono (Kyushu EPCO), Ichimura (JAPC), Tanaka(JNFL), Nagashima (J-Power), Yokoyama, Omoto (NRRC)
Organizers：Yokoo, Shimeno (NRRC)
4. Proceedings
The organizer reported the NRRC press release on Oct. 1st and the result ofmeeting between Dr. Apostolakis, the Head of NRRC, and Ms. Obuchi, the Ministerof Economy, Trade and Industry. The organizer also reported the progress ofdiscussion of the NRRC research plan for the next FY.
Dr. Apostolakis stated his aspiration as the Head of NRRC, and thenexchanged opinions with members.

【Aspiration of Dr. Apostolakis, the Head (main points)】
The mission of the center is to assist utilities in continuous improvement ofnuclear safety and management of residual risks of nuclear power plant operations.
On the establishment of NRRC, we have set our mission and vision, and posted
them on the website.
To assist utilities, I have to start to learn the situation of the efforts of utilities,
listen what utilities expect NRRC, and then will consider what we can do forutilities.
Our mission statement mentions not only Probabilistic Risk Assessment andrisk-informed decision making, but also risk communication. This risk
communication is very important especially in today’s Japan. It refers to not only
technical stakeholders, but also the public.
Our vision is to become the center of excellence that is respectful around theworld. Our challenge is how we achieve becoming such an excellence and how weestablish communication line with public. It is very important to do excellent work,and also to ensure the open and transparent operations.
1

I think it is important for us to have an open line for communication with utilities.
Both NRRC and utilities should understand that the essence of the risk
management is risk-informed decision making. In this risk-informed decision
making process, decision makers have to take accounts of not only risk assessment,
but also numerous matters such as defense in depth, costs, and so on.
In two or two-half year, we will focus especially on earthquakes and tsunami
among various external events. At the same time, we will work on furnishingutilities with infrastructure that will be required for risk assessment. In the field ofinfrastructure, we will focus especially on Human Reliability Analysis (HRA).

【Discussion (Main Points)】(Member) We struggle with the thought that the nuclear power will never revive inJapan without making our activities along with roadmaps of voluntary
safety improvement and the enhancement of risk management
recognized by the public.
(Member) I would like to know experiences in the U.S.A. how to make public
understand the utilities’ efforts.
(Head) Public is not one. There are many groups in the public. First we need tolisten and receive their opinions and then make our directions. The mostimportant thing is to get general public understanding that utilities talkfrankly and do not hide anything. Another important thing is never tolecture public. Any communications must be two way communications.
(Member) HRA is very important for PRA, therefore we expect NRRC very much todevelop improved HRA method.
(Head) Regarding HRA, the human performances in an extreme condition like
Fukushima or the evacuation of residents have not been researched yet inthe world.
Not only in HRA field, risk assessment must be realistic. So I would like torequest the cooperation from utilities’ engineering, maintenance, andoperator groups that makes our research real enough and helpful for
decision making.
(Member) It is highly appreciated if you suggest how to make a goodcommunication with the public.
2

(Head) Regarding risk communication, the important thing is how the concept ofresidual risk is understood by ordinary people, who usually want to know
it is safe or not.
Not only in case of nuclear power, everything we do everyday involves
certain risks. But we do it because we are benefited by doing it. I think thisis the good start point to talk with the public.

3