ATENA Forum 2021

ATENA’s activities toward nuclear
safety improvement~ current status and areas for improvement ~(Introduction for the panel discussion)
February 18, 2021
Atomic Energy Association(ATENA)
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Proposed discussion points

1・ While ATENA entered in its third year operation, ATENA has been
producing substantial output for various issues including regulatory issues
so far. Looking back such activities, we have found some cases which
resulted in much success and other cases which require furtherimprovements.
・ I would like to propose the following points for today’s discussion:① ATENA’s current performance in lightwith its original role（with regard to the expectations expressed byNRA and the current status）➁ Collaboration among industry
organizations, and the trust from society
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ATENA’s current performance in light with its original role

1

【Current status and areas for improvement】
As a successful case, new discussion scheme was realized between practicalexperts of both ATENA and NRA to discuss aging management, where bothexperts could share technically common understanding through a series ofmeetings.

On the other side, voices of dissatisfaction against ATENA has been noticed on
public meetings or Commissioner meetings of NRA
・ ATENA should refrain from seeking permission from NRA(ATENA’s lack of voluntary mind?）
・ It was regretful to hear no constructive opinions from ATENA（mere aggregation of utilities’ opinions without ATENA’s own opinions?）⇒ Questioning ATENA’s performance in light with its original role
（Do we meet the expectations or trust from the regulatory authority? ）【Discussion Points】① Any improvements required on ATENA’s efforts, attitude, staffing② Any improvements required on communication with NRACopyright © Atomic Energy Association All Rights Reserved.

Collaboration among industry organizations,and the trust from society【Current status and areas for improvement】
 ATENA has been working closely with JANSI, NRRC andmanufacturers, but the tasks including regulatory issues have been
wide-ranging, which leads to the fact that the entire process ofsolving issues cannot function effectively.
⇒ Improvements are required on ATENA’s organization/capability
and further collaboration within industry organizations
 Restart of some nuclear reactors has been achieved, but the generalpublic is still skeptical about nuclear power.

 Information of ATENA’s activities is released only on the website andhas been slightly acknowledged.
⇒ Industry’s efforts to improve nuclear safety has not been
acknowledged by the general public【Discussion Points】① Any improvements required on ATENA’s own organization/
capability, and collaboration within industry organizations② Required efforts to gain understanding and trust from thegeneral public

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Reference: Collaboration scheme for the introduction of thenew inspection system (success case)

5・Utilities have reformed their mindset and deployed necessary
infrastructure, and the industry organizations have supported utilities by
respective responsibilities toward the proper implementation of the newinspection system.
・The industry is working closely to properly implement the system, so it
can be regarded as a success case of industry collaborations.
Continuous presentation of industry’s opinions
so that the system leads to improved safety

Academic Experts
joinjoinRegulatory
authority
Oversight
activity

Dialogues

Free access toinformation

Safety improvements withprimary responsibility

Atomic Energy
Society of Japan
join

Nuclear Safety
Subcommittee
WG on effective
implementation ofthe inspectionsystem

ATENA

Utility

Collaboration toproperly implement
the system

・Establishment of a management
system for voluntarily improving
safety・Improvement of the PRA model・Responding to nuclear regulatory
inspections

・Dialogues with NRA (inspection guides, systemoperation)
・Development of industry guides for proper
implementation of the new inspection system

Central Research Instituteof Electric Power Industry
Nuclear Risk ResearchCenter (NRRC)
・Support for improving the PRA model(event tree, reliability data, etc.)

Japan Nuclear Safety
Institute (JANSI)Support for building a business foundation
・Industry PI guide・Corrective Action Program (CAP)
guide
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・Configuration Management (CM) guide