Greeting in Commemoration of the Founding of the Organization〇 This afternoon, the International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning(IRID) was officially founded during an extraordinary general meeting and board ofdirectors meeting held in a conference room of the Organization. I would like to express
my earnest gratitude to the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) andeveryone else who made this possible.
I've called for this press conference today in order to report the establishmentof the Organization and give an overview of the Organization directly to members of thepress, as well as convey my commitment.
〇 On August 1st, we received our “Establishment Permit” from METI Minister Motegi.
At this time the Minister said to me, “Your organization is responsible for researchingand developing technology that is indispensable for the decommissioning of theFukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. Consequently, the residents of Fukushima
Prefecture, and the entire nation, have great expectations for your organization”. The
Minister added that, “The technology obtained through your research and development
shall ultimately be used not only for the decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi
NPS but also widely leveraged for the future decommissioning of other nuclear powerstations,” and he concluded by saying, “I expect that your organization will play acentral role in gathering international wisdom.”〇 I replied saying that, “We will do our best to proactively gather a wide variety oftechnologies from different fields in addition to nuclear power from both within andoutside of Japan and work to integrate these technologies so as to bring peace of mind
to the people of Fukushima.”
When I think of the decommissioning work that continues in the field even at
this moment, it forces me to reaffirm my convictions to effectively and efficiently
acquire the technology needed in the field so as to enable our organization to help inaccelerating the decommissioning of the power station.
〇 On June 27, the Council for the Decommissioning of TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi
NPS”, which was established in the spring of this year, along with the government,
TEPCO and other related agencies deliberated various issues and revised the“Mid/Long-Term Roadmap” so that the removal of fuel debris will commence a yearand a half earlier than originally planned.
At the same time deliberation of establishing an organization for research anddevelopment that would gather decommissioning technologies continued and on July
23rd, an application for establishment authorization was at last submitted. The
extraordinary general meeting was held today as response to receipt of the authorizationfrom the Minister on August 1st.
As a university professor and researcher, I cannot help feeling that it was mydestiny to become the leader of this organization that will accumulate decommissioning
technology for Japan.
〇 If this were a normal corporation, we would be filled with hope at the prospect ofgrowing as a company and contributing on a whole to society, but the mission of ourorganization is to engage in research and development that will enable completion of
the decommissioning of the “nuclear power station that caused the Fukushima accident”
in as safe and absolute a manner as possible. To this end, our organization, which has
officially been founded today, must do whatever it takes to complete its mission ofgathering technology from not only Japan but the entire world.
〇 I believe this is a “task” that cannot be completed without absolute confidence andconviction. At the extraordinary general meeting just held, I conveyed to all union
members and directors that we will do whatever it takes to obtain technology requiredfor decommissioning, and that we will engage effectively and efficiently in the researchthat is required to achieve our goals.
I also added that the fruits of our labor will serve not only the nuclear power industry ofJapan but also contribute to the entire nation as well as the entire world.
〇 Now that this organization has officially taken form, we will gather knowledge andwisdom from both within and outside of Japan as mentioned by the Minister. In
particular, we plan to receive advice from overseas experts with a wealth of knowledge,
such as international advisors and international decommissioning expert groups and also
enlist the cooperation of overseas corporations with a plethora of experience andachievements.
Of course we will not do this alone, and in addition to the collective strength of the 17
corporations that are members of the union, we will be enlisting the cooperation ofcorporations, research institutions, and experts from both within and outside of Japan aswe proceed with research and development to promote the decommissioning of thepower station. The largest task that we have at hand is to create a mechanism forobtaining the information required to fulfill this task.
〇 As we engage in this research and development, we intend to make the union astransparent as possible and shall disclose information in a manner that makes it easy forthe general public to understand the progress of our research, thereby bringing peace ofmind to the people of Fukushima and the entire nation.
Hajimu Yamana,
President of the Board of Directors
Research and Development Consortium
International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning