ATENA Forum 2024

Activities of ATENA
February, 2024
Atomic Energy Association(ATENA)
Copyright © Atomic Energy Association All Rights Reserved.

1

1. Outline of ATENA
2. Past Activities
3. Evaluation to date, future tasks,and direction
Copyright © Atomic Energy Association All Rights Reserved.

2

Overview of ATENA
Board of Directors
President & CEO Hiroto Uozumi (formerly of Hitachi, Ltd.), 2 directors, and 2 auditors

StaffExperts in each field have been gathered from nuclear operators and plant manufacturers (approx.
30 people)(Areas of expertise) Safety design, external natural events, mechanical/electrical equipment, etc.

Member companies/organizations
11 utilities, 4 plant manufacturers, 4 related organizations
Hokkaido Electric Power Co., Inc., Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc., Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc., Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc.,
The Kansai Electric Power Company, Incorporated, Hokuriku Electric Power Company, Inc., The Chugoku Electric Power Co., Inc.,
Shikoku Electric Power Company, Incorporated, Kyushu Electric Power Company, Inc., The Japan Atomic Power Company,Electric Power Development Co., Ltd.,
Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corporation, Hitachi, Ltd., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corporation,
The Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan(FEPC), Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry(CRIEPI),
Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, Inc.(JAIF), The Japan Electrical Manufacturers’ Association(JEMA)
Observers: Japan Nuclear Safety Institute (JANSI), Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited (JNFL), Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA)
Copyright © Atomic Energy Association All Rights Reserved.

ATENA’s Mission and Vision
Mission⚫ ATENA will make decisions on introducing voluntary and effective safety measureseffectively utilizing the knowledge and resources of the entire nuclear industry,and encourage nuclear operators to incorporate these effective measures into theiractual site operations, thereby raising the level of safety at nuclear power stations
even higher.
Vision⚫ ATENA will exercise leadership in the nuclear industry and step forward toaddress issues related to nuclear safety, thereby promoting initiatives by nuclear
operators to enhance safety.
To achieve the above, ATENA will take on the following.
◎The nuclear industry will implement safety measures voluntarily and in advance◎Constantly question if existing safety measures could be improved◎Implement measures to voluntarily achieve an upward spiral in safety improvement
The above efforts are implemented while ensuring “active participation frommanufacturers” and “having the industry as a whole participate with theawareness that they are members of ATENA”.
Copyright © Atomic Energy Association All Rights Reserved.

3

4

Role of ATENA① Develop effective safety measures and request operators implement these safety measures by taking full advantage ofATEANA ‘s composition which complies of experts not only from utilities but also from manufactures.
Coordinate efforts across the industry in the identification and addressing phase so that effectively utilize theknowledge/resources available in each organization.
② Actively engage in dialogue with the regulatory authority under the common goal of improving safety.
③ Communicate with various stakeholders to improve safety.
Nuclear Regulation
Authority

Experts frominside andoutside Japan②Dialogue

Regulate

Exchange views

ATENA

Plant

Plant

①Request adoption ofeffective safety measures

Plant①Coordinate activities within the nuclear power industry(effectively utilization of knowledge and resources)

Nuclear operators
Evaluate and support
JANSI

CollaborateJAIFJEMA

manufacturer
FEPC

Society

Implement safetymeasuresCRIEPI/③Communicate with society about initiatives
for improving safety
Copyright © Atomic Energy Association All Rights Reserved.

ATENA’s operational structure◯ Technical matters related to common regulatory challenges are discussed in working
groups led by expert ATENA staff, attended by manufacturers, with the approval ofthe Chairman and Directors.

Copyright © Atomic Energy Association All Rights Reserved.

5

Mechanism and characteristics of ATENA activities

6◯ Utility and manufacturer CNOs deliberate on important common technical issues and determine themes in
the Steering Committee through a process that doesn’t require unanimous agreement.
◯ All utilities commit to implementing the measures decided in the Steering Committee.

◯ Staff assigned to ATENA with high levels of expertise discuss technical issues and stipulate safety improvement
measures in guidelines. These measures are rolled out at each utility. Activities implemented by the industry
are coordinated in the technical discussions to effectively use resources.
◯ ATENA as a representative of the industry, engages in dialogue with the regulatory authority on common
technical issues.
◯ Results and progress in activities including technical reports are disclosed to society.

ATENA
Domestic and overseas
information [Utilities andorganizations]

Select themes to be tackled as priorities by the industry

Publish guidelines
Develop safety measures action plans [each company]

Confirm and assess progress

Implement
andassess

Implement safety measures [each company]

Decide onsafetymeasures andplans

Discuss/decide [Steering Committee]
Engage in dialogue,
develop a common
understanding of the issues

Regulatory authority

Discuss/decide [Steering Committee]

Decide on the theme

Plant state[Utilities]• The Steering Committee comprised of utility andmanufacturer CNOｓ decides on importantcommon issues.

• Industry experts form a WG and discuss measures andplans.
• Discussion results are published as guidelines• Safety measures are decided with thecommitment of each operator (by 80% majority)• ATENA confirms and assesses the progress madeby utilities in implementing safety measures andensures that measures are implemented asplanned.

Disclose to society
Copyright © Atomic Energy Association All Rights Reserved.

ATENA’s approach to common technical issues
ATENA is to address the following common issues based on lessons learned from the Fukushima
Daiichi Accident and subsequent efforts for safety improvement by utilities.

Copyright © Atomic Energy Association All Rights Reserved.

78

1. Outline of ATENA
2. Past Activities
3. Evaluation to date, futuretasks, and direction
Copyright © Atomic Energy Association All Rights Reserved.

Activities since the establishment of ATENA
FY

Accomplishments

9Issues・Establishment of ATENA (July 2018)

・Prepare for starting dialogues with NRA・Selected common technical issues as themes and started reviewactivities

・Steadily implement technical reviews

・Started dialogues with NRA (April 2019)
・Started producing fruitful results in the review of technical issues
eg. Reduction of incidents due to human factors inemergency diesel generators (EDGs)(FY 2019: 1 incident; FY 2020: 0 incident)

・Establish practices such as conducting
developing safety measures andrequesting utilities to introduce
countermeasures.
・Extract "potential risks" in addition tocurrent technical issues

2020

・Established a reasonable approach for the grace period for backfitting(Design basis ground motion formulated without specifying theepicenter).
・Conducted technical discussions with NRA on aging management
initiatives, then NRA compiled its views on the operation period rule.

2021

・Reinforced safety measures at each company in response to theinappropriate treatments in physical protection procedures at TEPCO.
・Enhanced cooperation with overseas organizations(Web meetings by senior management)

・ATENA actively proposes issues to theNRA

・A self-review of our efforts to date, four years since theestablishment of ATENA

・Identification of issues to be addressed2018201920222023

・Further efforts to identify issues for more effective promotion ofsafety improvement initiatives of the industry
・Conducted a meeting between NRA and ATENA management alone
to exchange opinions (2023.7)
・Proposal for risk information utilization (AOT review, online
maintenance) (2023.10)
・Promotion of safety measures based on a new framework

・Conduct active dialogues with NRA・Conduct productive dialogues with NRA
and reinforce communication withstakeholders

・Building trust with the NRA・Further strengthen cooperation withexternal organizations, such as overseasorganizations・Pursuit of safety improvement beyond
regulatory framework
・Building trust with regulators
・Initiatives to enhance the value of
nuclear energy

Achievements: Activities where the mechanism and structure of the activities arefunctioning (1/2)

10

In the five years since ATENA was first launched, ATENA has been implementing activities under themechanisms and structures that it has established.

I.

Examples of initiatives with functioning mechanisms
A committee attended by utility and manufacturer top management selects themes from importantcommon technical challenges and clarifies the safety improvement measures to be implemented
for them in the guidelines.

①Cases in which operators have addressed issues ahead of the regulatory, learning from overseas
examples (implement safety measures ahead of the regulatory authority)• Measures for common cause software failure in digital safety protection systems (expand thefunctions of analog circuits）•

Measures for Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) (confirm that electromagnetic phenomenon won’t affectelectronic equipment)•②③

Measures for open phase conditions＊(OPC) (install automatic detectors）* Event in which the circuit of one of the phases in external power (three-phase AC power) experiences open failure

Cases where operators sought to improve safety beyond the regulatory requirement framework(question if there is no room for improvement)• Measures for natural events that exceed the assumptions in regulatory requirements
Cases to realize safe long term operation (achieving an upward spiral of safety improvement)• Published aging degradation management guides and reports to have existing reactorsthat have met the new regulatory requirements and restarted operate safely in the long term
• Established an Aging Degradation Knowledge Expansion WG and created an action planfor managing aging degradation
Copyright © Atomic Energy Association All Rights Reserved.

Achievements: Activities where the mechanism and structure of the activities arefunctioning (2/2)
II.

11

Examples of initiatives with functioning structures➢ Initiatives led by ATENA (implement safety measures ahead of the regulatory authority)
Safety measures are decided by an 80% majority instead of setting the pace toaccommodate the weakest utility. ATENA requires all utilities to implement the passed
measures by having the Chief Nuclear Officers (CNOs) of each utility commit to it.
• Measures for 24-hour operation testing of emergency diesel generators⇒ All utilities had been performing 3-hour continuous operation of the EDGs. ATENA led discussions toimplement 24-hour continuous operation to further increase equipment reliability and to gain data.
• Measures to incorporate learnings from the investigation/analysis of the Fukushima Daiichi NPS accident⇒ ATENA led discussions on hydrogen protection measures for BWR reactor buildings. It created a guidebased on the knowledge gained from the discussions and required the implementation of safetymeasures according to the guide.

➢ Initiatives where manufacturers actively participated (Active participation bymanufacturers, awareness as a member of ATENA)ATENA has built a discussion structure where manufacturers participate in discussions.
Most highly case, around 60% of attendees of ATENA WGs and NRA public meetings are
manufacturers who take an active role in discussions and speak as part of ATENA.
••••

Measures for common cause software failure in digital safety protection systemsCybersecurity measures (develop hardware measures and structural enhancement)
Measures for EMC
Measures to introduce new fuel (BWR10×10 fuel) (improve safety by mitigating the thermal load)
Copyright © Atomic Energy Association All Rights Reserved.

12Achievements: Priority initiatives for improving safety
III.

Examples of new safety improvement initiatives (achieving an upward spiral of safety
improvement)➢ ATENA proposed risk-informed initiatives to the Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) with theaim of extracting plant weaknesses and operational challenges, and incorporating newinformation, as well as investing resources in effective safety improvement measures•The time allowed for equipment to recover when it enters limiting conditions ofReview AOT* based on risk assessments *:operation
due to equipment failure
AOT could be modified if risk assessment finds the increase in accumulated risk is small.

•Expand the scope of online maintenanceWork quality could be improved by increasing the scope of online maintenance and reducing theamount of work that needs to be done during peak times in periodic inspections. The industry
developed a guide on measures to secure safety when expanding the scope of online maintenance,e.g., risk assessment and risk management during the planning and implementation stages ofonline maintenance.

ATENA will further strengthen its cooperative ties with the Nuclear Risk Research Center(NRRC) at CRIEPI to lead the charge in applying standardized risk assessment methods in actual
plants, and NRRC will continue to refine PRA models and equipment failure rate data.

Copyright © Atomic Energy Association All Rights Reserved.

13Achievements: ATENA’s activities model◯ ATENA illustrated activities to pursue nuclear safety improvements using a three-balloon model.

◯ Common technical issues (potential risk) to be tackled were extracted and classified. Operators, who
are knowledgeable about the field, create effective measures that are informed by the reality on
the ground and implement safety measures early on.
Extract potential risks

Classify into three groups
Regulatory requirements

Voluntary

Set a new standard as aregulatory requirement.
Require operators to apply forthe procedure for theregulatory authority to review
and inspect, to ensure that theoperator meets the regulatory
requirement.

Instead of using theregulatory requirements
process, operators decide
whether to voluntarily
address those risks andimplement safety measures
as needed.

*[New framework]
・ Clarify safety measures in guidelines and disclose(make a promise to society)・ Check the plans for measures and progress operators
are making in implementing the plans (disclose)・ Expected effects✓ Realize safety measures early on✓ Create effective measures informed by thereality on the ground that the operators aremost knowledgeable about✓ Continue to flexibly and voluntarily improve

New framework *Instead of using theregulatory requirements
process, dealing with therisk is left up the industry’s
voluntary initiatives.
However, the regulatory
authority holistically checks
those initiatives.

• Measures for natural events thatexceed what is assumed inregulatory requirements• Measures to ensure safe long-term
operation (publish aging degradation
management guides and reports,
create an aging degradation
management action plan)• Measures for open phase conditions(OPC)• Measures for EMC• Measures for common cause software failure in digital safety
protection systems• Measures to incorporate knowledge gained from the investigation
and analysis of the Fukushima Daiichi NPS accident
Copyright © Atomic Energy Association All Rights Reserved.

14Achievements: Dialogue with the regulatory authority○ Since July 2019, ATENA has been participating in NRA-CNO opinion exchange meetings andhave been engaging in discussions with the NRA Commissioners. In July 2023, the first opinion
exchange meeting just with the NRA and ATENA management was held, where ATENA
talked with the NRA Chairman and Commissioners○ ATENA directors and practitioners (including manufacturers) participated in the open meetings
and technical opinion exchange meetings held by the NRA to discuss technical matters.
○ In the regular administrative meetings, ATENA explained its stance on the opinion exchange
themes and ways to make progress in technical issues.
[Results]➢ 1 NRA-ATENA opinion exchange meeting (starting July 2023)➢ 9 NRA-CNO opinion exchange meetings(number of times ATENA has participated since July 2019)➢ 25 open meetings/technical opinion exchanges (in the last year)➢ Weekly regular administrative meetings(held around 50 times in the last year)<Open meeting>
Copyright © Atomic Energy Association All Rights Reserved.

Collaboration with external organizations: Domestic and international collaboration◯ ATENA signed technical cooperation agreements with nuclear-related organizations
domestic and abroad to effectively and efficiently promote ATENA activities.
◯ Technical issues are being examined while sharing opinions and information with eachorganization.

Domesticorganizations

Nuclear power industry

Overseas organizations

Nuclear Energy Institute(signed cooperation agreement in June
2019)

Électricité de France(signed cooperation agreement inNovember 2018)
・CRIEPI・JANSI (Japan Nuclear Safety Institute)・Federeation of Electric Power Companiesof Japan・JEMA (The Japan Electrical
Manufacturers’ Association)
・Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, Inc.

Academic associations

・Exchange opinions at management level
・Exchange opinions on technical issues (e.g., open phase condition) bypractitioners
・Obtain technical information (e.g., duration of emergency diesel generators
operation test of each country)
・CEO of NEI provides commentary on ATENA activities and expectations
・Participation in the ATENA Forum・Exchange opinions at management level
・Exchange opinions on technical issues (e.g., supplier nonconformance) bypractitioners・Participation in the ATENA Forum・Exchange opinions at management level
・Exchange information, attend committee meetings each other・Exchange information on use of risk information (NRRC at CRIEPI)・Signed a cooperative agreement with JANSI・Cooperate on gathering overseas information with JANSI・Coordinate with activities implemented by academic associations, share
information

Copyright © Atomic Energy Association All Rights Reserved.

15

16Communication with various stakeholders◯ Hosted the ATENA Forum• Held in February every year as a public event• In the 2022 Forum, panelists discussed on ATENA's Commitment to Voluntary SafetyImprovement＜Forum in session＞◯ Presented ATENA activities in academic conference• Planning session of the Fall Meeting of the Atomic Energy
Society of Japan (AESJ) (September 2023)• Symposium on Power and Energy Technology of theJapan Society of Mechanical Engineers (September 2023)◯ Articles in newspapers and journals• Industry Newspaper “Denki Shimbun”: Publication of articles related to theCybersecurity(January 2024)• Journal of the AESJ： Publication of articles related to Long-term operation （February2024）◯ Meetings with executives of organization overseas• US – Japan Round Table（February 2023）• Meeting with Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) (February, November 2023)• Meeting with EDF (March, September, November 2023）◯ Mail magazine
・ Started to deliver ATENA mail magazine (January 2023)
Copyright © Atomic Energy Association All Rights Reserved.

17

1. Outline of ATENA
2. Past Activities
3. Current assessment,
future challenges, anddirection
Copyright © Atomic Energy Association All Rights Reserved.

Current assessment, future challenges and direction
Current assessment➢ The following initiatives have taken root and the mechanisms and structures for thoseinitiatives are functional.
• Address nuclear safety issues ahead of the regulatory• Check that the implemented safety measures to see if there is room for improvement• Have the industry voluntarily aim to realize an upward spiral of safety improvement• Have manufacturers actively participate• Have all members of the industry participate with an awareness that they are members ofATENA
Future challenges and direction➢ Pursue safety improvements in nuclear power
We will pursue safety improvements in nuclear power, beyond the regulatory framework,
gathering the full force of the industry.
➢ Build a relationship of trust with the regulatory authority
To promote the sound use of nuclear power, we will continue to engage in dialogue tobuild a relationship of trust with the regulatory authority.
➢ Efforts to increase the value of nuclear power
We will work to further increase the value of nuclear power while maintaining its safety.
(E.g., operate the plant efficiently through the use of risk information, discuss challenges to introducing
innovative light water reactors, discuss measures to realize long-term operation)
Copyright © Atomic Energy Association All Rights Reserved.

18

List of common technical issues (themes)

Copyright © Atomic Energy Association All Rights Reserved.

19

Published technical reports and schedule for reports

Copyright © Atomic Energy Association All Rights Reserved.

20