The Nuclear Risk Research Center
Current Status
Jan. 21, 2015
George Apostolakis
Head of Nuclear Risk Research Center(NRRC)
apostola@criepi.denken.or.jp
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Mission and Vision
Mission Statement
To assist nuclear operators and nuclear industry tocontinually improve the safety of nuclear facilities
by developing and employing modern methods ofProbabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA), risk-informed
decision making and risk communication.
Vision Statement
To become an international center of excellence in
PRA methodology and risk management methods,
thereby gaining the trust of all the stakeholders.
2Establishment of NRRC
Date of Establishment: Oct 1, 2014
Location: Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry, Otemachi（Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo）（Research activities are conducted mainly in Abiko and Komae）
The number of members：Approximately 1103

International Collaboration- Executives of NRRC have broad international experience.
- Members of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) also have avariety of international experience.
Technical Advisory Committee

Dr. G. Apostolakis
Head of NRRC
(USA)

Dr. R. Meserve
Executive Advisor(USA)

Mr. J. W. Stetkar
Chair of TAC(USA)

Mr. A. Afzali(USA)

Dr. N. Chokshi(USA)Mr. X. Pouget-Abadie(France)Prof. T. Takada(Japan)Prof. A. Yamaguchi(Japan)4

Role of NRRC
To support utilities, NRRC will
- Develop modern PRA methodologies and infrastructure- Investigate mechanism, frequency and consequences of external natural hazards- Continuously be aware of and identify new risks

Production cycle of NRRC R&D outcomes
Stakeholders

Issues to be solved tocontinuously improvesafetyGap Analysis

state-of-practicestate-of-the-art

Identify what should be doneby NRRC until whenInstitutions-Utilities

NRRCInternationaldomesticDevelop researchplan/roadmap

Utility’s Risk Management process
NRRCresources

Do R&D

Information
release

Outcomes 3
Trust fromstakeholders

Utilize NRRC’s R&D
outputs to risk-informeddecision making

Produce R&D outputs

Outcomes2

Confirm utilities’ efforts

Center of excellencemodelknowledge
Skilled researchers

methodology

data

Outcomes 1

Continuous safety
improvement
5NRRC Management Policy- To support utilities’ efforts to continually improve
the safety of nuclear facilities- To produce research results that will help utilities’risk-informed decision making- International collaboration- Open and transparent operation to enhance
public confidence
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Open and Transparent Operation- Information released on NRRC website
in both English and Japanese- Enhanced attendance and presentations at both
domestic and international conferences- Open communications between NRRC and TAC- Publication of NRRC activities and R&D results
available to the public
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NRRC Website

http://criepi.denken.or.jp/en/nrrc/index.html

http://criepi.denken.or.jp/jp/nrrc/index.html
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Open communications between NRRC and TAC- Letter reports were released from the Chair of TAC to the Head of NRRC
after 1st TAC meeting and those were posted on the TAC website.
- Response letters from the Head of NRRC to the Chair of TAC were also
posted on the TAC website.
- A Response letter from the industry was submitted to the Head ofNRRC and it was also treated the same way.

9Highlights of the NRRC Research Plan
Near Term Goals

Mid/Long Term Goals

PRA
improvement- General improvement of Level-1
and Level-2 PRA by Ikata Unit 3
pilot plant project- Seismic and Tsunami PRA

Mechanismof External
NaturalHazard- Tornado: preliminary realistic- Effects of earthquake combined
evaluation upon local topography
with Tsunami- Volcano: preliminary realistic- Effects of various combinations ofevaluation of ash precipitation
natural hazards- Fault displacement: preliminary
realistic evaluation of the effectInfrastructure - Human reliability analysis- Database for PRA-PRA for various hazards
Seismic induced event PRA
Fire and Flooding PRA
Multi-unit PRA
Level-3 PRA- Risk communication- Industry safety goals

10Initiative for Setting Industry Safety Goals
for Multi-unit Sites- Demonstrate that we undertake initiatives toestablish our own objectives in accordance withthe latest international activities, e.g., IAEA,CANDU Owners Group, et al.
- Establish performance metrics for multi-unit sites.
- Identify and resolve PRA methodological issues
for multi-unit sites.
- This initiative can provide important information
for communication with the public.
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Communications with the Industry- Direct Communications with utility
Chief Nuclear Officers (CNOs) aremaintained through the NRRC’s
CNO conference.
- Dialogue with utility Chief ExecutiveOfficers (CEOs) is also held to shareand determine priority issues to beinvestigated by NRRC.
- Discussions with members of the industry PRA
promotion task team.

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Concluding Remarks- The NRRC is only three months old- We have developed our mission and visionstatements- We have a strong Technical Advisory Committee- We are open and transparent- We take initiatives in addition to more routine
work- We interact with industry and internationalorganizations
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