OVERVIEW
1. Introduction
This is a report on the peer review of Electric Power Development Co. Ltd. (J-Power).
The peer reviews of Japan Nuclear Technology Institute (JANTI) are conducted by review
teams comprising JANTI experts and JANTI members. The review team visits the facilities
of JANTI members to identify the issues and good practices of the members, which are
beneficial for other members, by reviewing the activities related to nuclear safety with theirfull knowledge and experience. The goal of JANTI’s peer review activity is to improve thesafety culture of the whole nuclear power industry.

2. Overview of the Organization Reviewed
J-Power was established as a special company in September 1952 based on the "ElectricPower Development Promotion Law" in order to resolve the nationwide electric power
shortage. As of the end of June 2007, J-Power operates 67 hydro and thermal electric
power stations that have capacity to generate 16,380,000 kW and has a total length of powertransmission lines of 2,400 kilometers in Japan. The said law was abolished on October 2,
2003, and in October of 2004 the company was listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock
Exchange, thus completing the privatization of the company.
Also, the nickname "J-Power" was adopted as of April 1, 2002. The name "J-Power"
incorporates the ideas of "To expand the business worldwide by focusing on “energy” and“environment” and, to supply “power” to the universe for the future of this planet using theexperiences and technology developed through the worldwide business over fifty years”.
The company has set up the Oma Nuclear Power Station Construction Preparation Officein Oma-machi, Shimokita-gun, Aomori Prefecture and has its Aomori Office in Aomori City,and the preparations for the construction of Oma Nuclear Power Station are making progress.
This review was applied to only the Nuclear Power Division of the head office because theprincipal construction of the station has not been started yet. As of January 2008, 162
employees and 24 loan employees from other companies are working for the Nuclear Power
Division of the head office. Also, the Oma Nuclear Power Station Construction Preparation
office has 60 employees and the Aomori office has five employees. The Nuclear PowerDivision is in charge of the design and engineering development of Oma Nuclear Power
Station as well as licensing safety review of nuclear facilities.

3. Review Viewpoint
J-Power plans to build a 13,830,000 kW Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR)
nuclear power station in Oma-machi, Shimokita-gun, Aomori Prefecture and is making
endeavors in preparation for commencement of operation in 2012.
At first the company had planned to build an Advanced Thermal Reactor (ATR)
demonstration reactor, but in August 1995 the Atomic Energy Commission decided to scrap
the plan for constructing the demonstration reactor on the grounds of economic efficiency of
the ATR. Instead, it was decided to build one ABWR (Full MOX-ABWR) which is able tofully load MOX fuel assemblies (uranium and plutonium mixed oxide fuel).
The Full MOX-ABWR plan characterized as the way to make the flexibility of Japan's
plan to expend plutonium as fuels in Light Water Reactors widely, and is being promoted by
the national government and electric power companies.
An establishment permit was applied for in September 1998, but the location plan wasrevised and so a new application was submitted in March 2004. The second public hearing
was held in October 2005, but there was subsequently a revision to the anti-earthquake
review guideline, and at the present time the government's second licensing safety review isstill in progress.
Based on the current situation of Oma Nuclear Power Station being in the construction
preparation stage, the review focuses attention on the following points.
・ Endeavors in promoting safety cultures
・ Permeation of the Nuclear Power Division Senior Manager's policy plan inengineering development and other tasks
・ Obtaining technology attained from experience with previously built plants
・ Training of engineers in preparation for the design, construction, and operation of
Oma Nuclear Power Station
・ Maintenance and improvement of the motivation of managers and members

Specific review areas were "organization & management," "training," and "design
management" and three important issues which were "comprehensive inspection ofgenerating facilities," "reflection on plan of construction and operational experience," and"design evaluation of newly designed items."

4. Conducting the Review(1)

Review dates
From Tuesday, January 29 to Friday, February 1 , 2008

(2)

Composition of review teamTeam leader: JANTI NSnet Division
Team members: team leader and five others(One from Chugoku Electric Power Company, one from Chubu Electric Power
Company and three of JANTI NSnet Division)(3)

Responsibilities of review groups
Group A:

organization and management, comprehensive inspection of power
generation facilities

Group B:

training, reflection on plan of construction and operation experience

Group C:

design management, design evaluation of newly designed items

5. Review Schedule
The Review was carried out over a period of four days, with the schedule for each of thegroups as shown below.

Review Schedule

Group AGroup B

Group C

(organization and management, comprehensive inspection of(training, reflection on plan of construction and operation experience)(design management, design evaluation of newly designed items)

power generation facilities)
opening (greetings & introduction of members)AM

interview with senior manager

1 organization /management

generaldocuments

2 training

generalTue.
group meetingJan

documents

3 design

state of implementing design

managementchanges

event
observationgroup meeting29
managers class
1 organization /management

managers and staff classes

interviews

study using CAI equipment

experience
personnel with ABWR
construction experience

Wed.
Jan

event
observation

4.3 new design

design review

check of review results

host executive

check of review results, check ofhost executive

check of review results, check ofcheck of the schedule

office meetingschedule, etc.

office meetingschedule, etc.

2 training
event

4.2 operation

observation

experience

investigative commission
personnel with ABWR

interviewinterview

office meetinggroup meetingobservationinterview

host executive

AM

event

2 training
4.2 operationPM

documents

event

3 design

observation

management

interview

managers and staff classes

interview

30

construction experience

1 organization /managers and staff classes

interviews

managers and staff classes

interviews

management

1 organization /management

2 training

personnel with ABWR trial run

4.2 operation

experience

experienceinterview

3 design
management

managers and staff classes

interviewPMhost executive

check of review results

host executive

check of review results, check ofhost executive

check of review results, check ofoffice meetingcheck of the schedule

office meetingschedule, etc.

office meetingschedule, etc.

1 organization /management

staff classinterviewsAM

2 training
4.2 operation

4.1 comprehensive state of progress of action

documents andinspection

interviews

programThu.

experience

personnel with ABWR operation
experience

event

Jan

YG activities

observation

managers and staff classes

interviews

interview

3 design
management

managers and staff classes

event
YG activities

interview

event

observation

YG activities

observation

follow-up

interview31
4.1 comprehensivePMinspection

2 training
4.2 operation
experience

personnel with ABWR
maintenance experience

3 design
interview

check of review results
development of closing report
coordination with host check of schedule, etc.
final coordination with host / final revision of closing reportAM
preparation for closing

Fri.
Feb 1
PM

closing (explanation of results, etc.)

management
4.3 new design

6. Review Method and Organization of Review Results
6.1 Review Method(1) Document review
The Review was carried out after an explanation and presentation of the documents
concerned as well as types of regulations and work objectives for each individual review
item.

(2) Interviews
Interviews on the theme of "endeavors in nuclear safety" were carried out with a totalof approximately 60 persons including the executives, who are the Nuclear Power
Division Senior Manager and managers and members. Also, whenever there were any
uncertainties while documents were being examined, it was investigated throughinterviews.

(3) Observation
In this review, work performance in the Nuclear Power Division was observed inrelation to the results in document reviews and interviews.

In addition, the review team suggested information and examples such as best practices in
the nuclear industry which were possibly help the Nuclear Power Division during document
reviews, interviews and observations in order to reach mutual understanding.

6.2 Organization of Review Results
Strengths and Area for Improvements were identified for each specific review areas basedon document reviews, interviews and observations.
The definition of “Strength” is “an outstanding practice or process in the Division which
results good performance with accuracy, effectiveness and originality. And, it should beshared not only with other JANTI members, but also nuclear industry wide”.
"Area for Improvement" is “suggestions for further improvement in activities to enhancenuclear safety in the Division in contrast with best practice in nuclear industry in order toattain the ultimate level”.

7. Summary of Interview with Senior Manager of Nuclear Power Division
In order to understand the policies of the Nuclear Power Division, the review teaminterviewed the Nuclear Power Division Senior Manager, who expressed his thoughts asfollow.

(1) Initiatives to promote safety culture
In the endeavors of promoting safety culture, it is not enough to simply organize and makerules, but it is also important to adhere to those rules. J-Power is embarking upon theconstruction of a nuclear power station. Accordingly, the Senior Manager believes now is
the time that safety culture needs to be established and improvements made. The campaign
for promoting safety culture is not a one-time affair, to the contrary, but it is essential torepeat the actions again and again while checking and making improvements. Even though
one may understand this in theory, unless one actually puts this into practice physically, itcannot be considered to be in effect.
Since the company has not yet reached the stage of actual construction and operation of a
nuclear power station, no actual claim can be made that good results have been attained inorganizing for the promotion of safety culture. Whether the current structure is good or not,or where the important issues lie, it is still too early to say. The issue is that until the power
station goes into operation and they can ascertain these matters for themselves, it is not reallypossible to verify in the true sense.
Another thing is the state of mind. It is not enough to say merely abiding by the structure
and rules falls to promote safety culture. One must possess the will to abide by structure
and rules, be motivated, take pride in his work, and it is also important to feel that one ismaking contributions to society.
In the true sense of nuclear safety, it is important to carry out routine activities adequately
not to arise concerns about environmental preservation, industrial safety, disaster prevention
as well as radiation effect not only residents, but also station workers so that local residents
are able to trust the station and express understanding.

(2) Communication of Senior Manager of Nuclear Power Division's policies to theworksiteAs the Senior Manager of the Nuclear Power Division, he seizes the opportunity ofweekly meetings attended by group leader class and above and other opportunities to convey
his ideas. Also, last year the Nuclear Power Division Senior Manager, Oma Nuclear Power
Station Construction Preparation Office Director, and Aomori Office Director jointly signeda Declaration of Compliance, and renewed their appeal to all employees in their capacity as
the leaders of the organization.

However, the most important points are recurrence

preventions measures, and the willingness to carry out generic implications.

Whenmistakes are made, strict reprimands are to be expected, but at such times, the parties who
erred are very much in a state of being open to advice and suggestions. Accordingly, hetakes such opportunities to reach the workers in the effort to instill in them a sense of taking
pride in their work.

(3) A culture of reporting (If various problems in the field are reported)
Conventional advice has always been to strictly enforce "report / inform / consult." Theimportant thing is how to implement this effectively. It is difficult to check on whether or
not reporting has actually been carried out or whether understanding is attained on a regularbasis. Thinking back to the non-conformities that have happened during this past one year,
even though time is of the essence, dealing with the matter is too slow, and the reporting
takes too much time to begin with. When we checked on the reasons for the delays, thereason given was that it requires time to prepare the documents, but when there are someproblems the important thing is for the leader of the organization to attain a prompt
understanding of the situation. If the leader of the organization does not have a clear
understanding, the issue is not being dealt with by the organization in the true sense.
In regard to the point that the number of non-conformities is small, it is believed that thebasis for the number of cases lies within the definition for determining what constitutes a
non-conformity. The number of non-conformities cases depends on the criteria of what is
considered a non-conformity.

(4) Areas of the Nuclear Power Division's expertise and directly confronting issues
J-Power's strength is its willingness to tackle new challenges. Additionally, the Nuclear
Power Division is not bound by the constraints that others are, and the atmosphere is onewhere one is able to paint a picture starting with a clean slate. Thus the division has thestrength of being able to proceed with the construction and operation of the power plant thatsufficiently reflects the knowledge of predecessors while at the same time taking in newexpertise.
On the other hand, what is seen as a good point of having the willingness to take positive
action, conversely leads to neglect when it comes to abiding by rules, and this can easily leadto a tendency to do things in an arbitrary manner. Furthermore, at the present stage, due tolack of experience, many of the checks are merely theoretical and so the question is whether
or not the main points have been pinned down.

(5) What is expected of administrators (Deputy Senior Managers, Group Leaders,Managers, and so on)
The way of dealing with the current situation only becomes clear only once the situation iscorrectly understood. It is hoped that administrators will grasp an understanding of theactual circumstances not only in a timely manner but also with accuracy. Also it is hopedthat they will be aware of reality and the dangers that lurk in the practical affairs, and makeconstant effort to understand the problematic points.

(6) Endeavors in the passing down of skills
At the present time, it is not a question of passing technological skills down to the next
generation, but rather, of acquiring such skills. J-Power is concentrating its energies on theacquisition of new skills and training engineers. They have not yet reached the stage offormulating a clear-cut program for passing down the already acquired skills, but are making
efforts at brushing up the skills of their engineers. The company is making efforts tomaintain and improve skills of the engineers while considering the careers of each individual
employee by having them gain experience at both our their thermal power plants as well as
the nuclear power stations owned by other companies.

(7) Expectations for the peer review
Due to the lack of first-hand experience within the J-Power Nuclear Power Division in theactual construction & operation of a nuclear power station, the "how to" of implementing
effective improvements cannot be seen in the true sense. They are looking forward toreceiving advice aimed at improvement activities that will yield effective good results.

8. Overview of the Review Results
The Nuclear Power Division of J-Power is endeavoring in the design and preparation for
constructing Oma Nuclear Power Station from a policy stance of "broadening the flexibilityof the plan to use plutonium in light water reactors."
The J-Power's strength when it comes to nuclear power is that as a late-comer to the fieldof nuclear energy, it is in a position of being able to make use of the experience ofpredecessor nuclear power stations. Up to now, the company has dispatched many of its
employees to the likes of "Fugen," "Monju," and "nuclear power stations belonging tocompanies operating BWRs." In addition to each of these employees making use in thedesign of the power station of the knowledge and experience they have thus acquired, they
are moving forward with the construction preparations with the strong sentiment that they
are instrumental in the advancement of the plutonium-thermal MOX fuel project.
It is believed that deliberations that transcend departmental barriers as well as discussions
within the departments leads to the promotion of safety culture, and efforts are being made toprevent falling into the trap of being a closed organization through "J-Power Summits" and"YG activities (small-group free open discussions and hands-on practice)." In order tomake use of the knowledge and experience acquired at the design stage in the construction
and operation of the plant, straightforward endeavors are being made to reflect theaccumulation of design basis and the latest expertise of existing ABWR power stations in thedesign.
In this way, the review team came to understand that the employees are making efforts on
an on-going daily basis to improve safety, quality, and skills through the observation of "YG
activities" and "trouble report deliberation meetings" as well as through interviews withmanagers and members.
Note, however, that room for improvement was seen as far as the speeding up of studies oftroubles at other companies in advance of the day when construction actually begins, and theformulation and implementation of education plans with a view to construction andoperation.
In the following section, concrete results of the review will be discussed, drawing out three
good practices and five proposals for improvement.
Further note that of the proposals for improvement, these matters are not items requiring

immediate rectification from the standpoint of nuclear safety.

8.1 Strengths(Organization and Management)
Endeavors in Promoting Safety Culture Through J-Power Summit and YG
Activities
The second "J-Power Summit" was held in November 2007 as a companywide endeavor
with all executives, department directors, and station director and others all meeting under
one roof for the purpose of top management of the company voluntarily setting an example
for promoting compliance. Participants at the summit broke up into small groups and hadgroup discussions. Themes of the discussion were, "how to encourage being observant,""making it easy to speak up," "taking responsibility and setting examples by administratorsand managers," and the like. Group leader class personnel also joined in each group as
assistants and were given the chance to speak. In the dividing up into groups, consideration
was given to achieving a balance among the departments within the groups so thatdepartment-barrier-free deliberations could be carried out.
Also, as one of the endeavors by the Nuclear Power Division, all employees of the rank ofgroup leader and below engaged in group discussions known as "YG Activities" to discuss
past nuclear scandal events going beyond group boundaries. The activities were carried out
twice in FY 2007, the first time in September and the second time from January to February.
Part of this time was during the Peer Review period.
These activities lead to the promotion of safety culture in the sense of preventing thepitfall of becoming an insular organization, which is one of the causes of past examples ofnuclear scandals at other companies.
(Training)
Nothing special(Design management)
Making use of checksheets for design review
When reviewing design documents submitted by contractors, checksheets used by eachgroup are determined depending on the area of expertise of the group.

The mattersconsidered by the member in charge in regard to design documents, and the reviewer's
comments regarding the member’s conclusions are noted on each checksheet.

The

checksheets are a type of tool for quickly and accurately reviewing design documents, andhave been used in more than 7,000 cases up to now. The checksheets continue to beaccumulated in the document management system that handles overall document
management, and are being digitized into a database that comprises the basis of design
review while keeping in mind the passing down of skills.
(Important Issues)
Reflecting technological knowledge in designs
Since the Nuclear Power Division decided on the policy of constructing a Full
MOX-ABWR, by grasping and understanding of long-term trends in the nuclear powerindustry, endeavors at incorporating the latest technological knowledge into designs havebeen continuous. For example, when setting up concrete test coupons for monitoring theaging of structures over the years, the plan is moving forward based on understanding of the
track records of existing plants. The required research is also being carried out on thepolicies to be adopted based on operating experience of previously existing ABWRs on the
installation of filters to prevent foreign materials intrusion into fuel assemblies.

8.2 Areas for Improvement(Organization & Management)
Effective Utilization of Cases that are Not Handled as Non-conformities
Recurrence prevention is applied for the cases below the criteria of non-conformities aswell as non-conformities. However, no efforts are being made to share or digitize thesecases into database form when they are not handled as non-conformities.
Such cases that are not handled as non-conformities are nevertheless valuable for
improving quality in the future construction and operation of the power station, and so inrecognition that "even cases that are not handled as non-conformities provide the seeds forcontinued improvement," it is desirable to make use of these improvement examples,
including the backdrop and results of the interactions.
(Training)

The specifics of training policies and its implementation
At present, the training needed in order to execute the design work centers primarily on
carrying out OJT. The training items for securing the expertise needed at the work site forconstruction work, trial runs and commercial operation have already been determined.
When considering the actual on-site construction work that will start, it is desirable that thecontents of training items and method of implementation should be decided on andsystematically carried out at an early date. It is also desirable to take into account theutilization of the experience and knowledge of those staff members who have been
dispatched to previously existing plants up to now when implementing training programs.
(Design Management)
Making active use of design review
The "Design Review Committee" has been set up in order to confirm the design review,
but the object of deliberations is limited to the questions concerning major design changes ofexisting reactors having to do with MOX fuel, but in the past few years there have been very
few meetings held. Examinations are carried out in the process of drawing up "Technical
Investigative Documents," but for those matters that are of great importance, it is desirable
that minutes be kept at meetings and the sequence of examinations and basis for decisions
should be documented and the process of dealing with pending matters visualized, and thus
improve the effectiveness of the design review even all the more.
(Important Issues)
Effective implementation of recurrence prevention action program based oncomprehensive inspections of power generation facilities
J-Power is in the process of expanding its recurrence prevention action program based oncomprehensive inspections of power generating facilities. The Nuclear Power Division has
never possessed any facilities and is therefore not subject to comprehensive inspection, but it
has nevertheless voluntarily decided on an action program that includes recurrence
prevention measures taken by other nuclear power companies.

The action program

currently being pursued consists of recurrence prevention measures worked out fromcause-analysis coming from other departments within the company, and it is sometimes
difficult for those in the Nuclear Power Department to understand the purpose of themeasures, and some of the measures may not necessarily be effective as countermeasures.

Therefore, in the implementation of the program that has been decided on, it is desirable tocultivate a better understanding of the objectives and implement accordingly.
Systematic deliberations on trouble reports from other companies
As of January 29, 2008, of the approximately 350 reports of troubles that have occurred atother companies that are subject to consideration of whether or not they should be reflected
on in the Oma plant, about 250 of them have been given consideration. However, 104
trouble reports are currently being considered by the parties in charge but deliberations are
not complete yet.

There is the possibility that down the road from now when theconstruction work actually starts, work duties will increase and it may not be possible to givethese matters sufficient consideration, or, the said items may not have been given
consideration by the time when they will be needed. These yet-to-be considered mattersand the trouble reports that come in hereafter need to be systematically considered while
keeping in mind the importance of the information and the construction schedule.