Overview
1. Introduction
The Japan Nuclear Technology Institute (hereinafter “JANTI”) conducted a peer review(hereinafter “review”) with a review team comprising members and specialists from JANTI. The
team visits member offices and conducts a review on themes related to nuclear power safety to
extracts issues and good practices from which other members can learn from. Goals of review
activities are to bring a greater awareness of safety and achieve improvements in safety culture in
the nuclear industry wide.
2. Overview of Subject Locations
Nuclear Fuel Transport Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “NFT”) was established in April 1973 under its
former name “NTS”. Thereafter, NTS adopted its new name NFT in June 1986, and as a generalengineering company in transport that plays a part in the nuclear fuel cycle of Japan, NFT has
steadily achieved results in conducting sea and ground transport of spent fuels1 and low-level
radioactive wastes2, ground transport of returned glass solids3 and natural uranium hexafluoride4,
and safe transport.
The Rokkasho Transport Operations Office was opened in April 1992 next to the Mutsu-ogawara
Port in Rokkasho-mura in Kamikita-gun, Aomori Prefecture as an operations office to be closely
involved in the community and carry out transport of nuclear fuels and so on from
Mutsu-ogawara Port to nuclear fuel cycle facilities of Japan Nuclear Fuel, Ltd. (hereinafter“JNFL”).
An overview of the transport operations of NFT is as follows
z Transport of spent fuels (SF)NFT transports spent fuels over land and sea from nuclear stations throughout Japan to the
Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture and the Tokai Reprocessing
Plant of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency in Tokai-mura, Ibaraki Prefecture.
z Low-level Radioactive Waste (LLW) Transport
NFT transports low-level radioactive waste over land and sea from nuclear stations
throughout Japan to a JNFL Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Center in
Rokkasho-mura, Aomori Prefecture.
z Transport of returned glass solids (HLW)
NFT transports vitrified waste transported by sea from reprocessing plants overseas to
Mutsu-ogawara Port by land to the JNFL High Radioactive Level Waste Storage
1

z

z

Management Center in Rokkasho-mura, Aomori Prefecture.
Transport of natural uranium hexafluoride (UF6)
NFT transports natural uranium hexafluoride transported overseas from transfer plants to the
Mutsu-ogawara Port by land to the JNFL Uranium Enrichment Plant in Rokkasho-mura,
Aomori Prefecture.
NFT owns and operates transport equipments such as specialized transport ships, transport
containers, loading cranes and specialized transport vehicles.

NFT has 115 employees (as of the end of March 2007) in nuclear fuel transport, of which about
30 employees are employed at the Rokkasho Transport Operations Office. The head office iscomposed of the following divisions: the Transport Division, which establishes and manages
transport projects; the Engineering Division, which designs, maintains and manages equipment
and machinery including transport containers; the Safety and Quality Assurance Division; andPlanning, General Affairs, and Accounting divisions. Proper employees or transfers account for
approximately 70% of the workforce while the remaining 30% is seconded from electric power
utilities and the like. With respect to transportation of specialized transport ships and driving ofspecialized vehicles in transport and related maintenance management duties, a structure is inplace to outsource from a number of subcontractors.
3. Approach and Point of Review
This review is aimed at the structures and initiatives in place from the head office through toworksites with respect to safety management, etc. for the transport of nuclear fuel; therefore,
the subject is not only the Rokkasho Transport Operations Office but initiatives for nuclear
safety in transport management duties overall, including design management, at the head
office were also reviewed. Further, the review also paid attention to work operation,communication between top management and employees and initiatives to improve qualitythat are linked to nuclear safety.
In addition to the four areas of “organization/management”, “education/training,“design/transport/maintenance management”, in the specific review, JANTI also examined
important items such as “initiatives to improve reliability of transport facilities” and “humanerror prevention”. Thereupon, emphasis was also given to extracting points that could be
used by other members for reference.
4. Conducting the Review(1) Review period2Tuesday, June 12, 2007:at head office, “interview with company president”,“document review”
Wednesday, July 18 – Friday, July 20, 2007:
at Rokkasho Transport Operations Office,“interview with head of office”, “site observation”, “document review”(2) Composition of review teamTeam leader: JANTI NSnet Division personnel
Team members: 4 persons under the team leader(Fuji Electric Systems Co., Ltd.: 1; Mitsubishi Electric Corp.: 1; JANTI NSnet Divisionpersonnel: 2)(3) Review team assigned areas
Group A: Organization/management, some important items
Group B: Education/training; emergency preparedness; design/transport/maintenancemanagement, some important items(4) Review team visit locations
Head office and Rokkasho Transport Operations Office
5. Review Schedule
The review was conducted for a total of four days, one day at the head office and three daysat the Rokkasho Transport Operations Office, with the schedule indicated below for eachgroup.

3

z

Review Implementation Schedule at Head OfficeGroup B

Group A
(organization/management, important items (portion))(education/training; emergency preparedness;
design/transport/maintenance management; important items (portion))

Self-introductions,Introduction of current state of NFT
・Organizational structure, structure of standards
・General introduction of safety activities
・Other・Organization policies/objectives

Interview

・Leadership
・Education, trainingAMorganization
I. Organization/

・Composition ofmanagement

organization andresponsibilities

・Planning andDocuments

・Organization polices/

III.
Education/training

objectives

implementing
education/training

Documents

・Methodology(technology transfer)
・Qualification

Tuesday,certifications
・Effective transport

June 12・Quality assurance
program・Cultivating safety
I. Organization/

culturemanagement

・Activities aimed atmanagement

Design/transport/

・Effective maintenancemaintenancemanagement

management

・Effective design

Documents

improving morale
・Safety initiatives and

PM

IV．

Documents

management
V. Emergency

・Emergency plan andpreparedness

training (including
observation of location for

their evaluation

Documents

emergency
countermeasures
・Initiatives to improve
V. Important・Activities to prevent

items

human error

reliability of transportDocuments

V．Important items

facilities
・Radiation control duringtransport

4

Documents

z

Review Implementation Schedule at Rokkasho Transport Operations OfficeGroup B
Group A

(education/training; emergency preparedness;(organization/operations, important items (portion))design/transport/maintenance management; important items(portion))

AM

Opening (greetings, member introductions, explanation of recent status of Operations Office) (60 minutes) *1
Interview of manager
class

Operations OfficeI.

Director class

Organization/

・Organization

management

policies/objectives

IV.

・Effective design

Transport/Maintenancemanagement

Management

・Effective

Interviewtransport/maintenancemanagement

Interview

Interview of
personnel class・Leadership

・Effective design
management

Interview・Effective
transport/maintenanceWednesday,

management
July 18

PM

Manager level class・Leadership(-initiatives/awards
objectives-clarification of scope

・Education/trainingof responsibilities

plan and-conveying safety
messages)

Manager class・Quality assurance

Interview/documents

programimplementation
III. Education/training

・Methodology(technology transfer)
・Qualification-Safety initiatives

certifications

・Co-existing withsociety-Activities in the local
community to promote
understanding

5

Documents

z

Review Implementation Schedule at Rokkasho Transport Operations Office (continued)
Group B
Group A

(education/training; emergency preparedness;(organization/operations, important items (portion))design/transport/maintenance management;
important items (portion))・Reflection of pastnonconformities

Wedne
sday,

P

June

M

I.

Documents

Organization/
Management

18

・Initiatives for labor safety
・Reflection of past

On-siteIV．Transport/MaintenanceManagement

・Effective
transport

III．Education/training

・Sites for

IV. Transport/maintenanceeducation/

management

Documents

management

training activities

Worksite・Transportnonconformity cases

worksite
Review results/confirmation of plan for following day

Event observation

MeetingOn-site・Composition of

Event observation

IV. Transport/ maintenanceorganization/responsibilities/

management

・organization policies/objectives

Meeting・Effective
maintenance

Documents

management

A

I．

・Cultivating safety culture

Manager・Initiatives forM

Organization/Managemen

・Activities aimed at improving

class

improvingt

moraleinterview/

・Initiatives for labor safety anddocuments

V. Important items

On-sitereliability oftransport facilities

Documents

・Radiation control

their evaluation

during transport
ThursdV．Important items

ay,Manager・Human error prevention

June
19

class

I.

interview/

Emergency

・Emergency plan

preparedness

and training

Documents

documents
・Emergency
・Measures to prevent humanerror

countermeasures

IV．
On-siteTransport/maintenancemanagement

locations・MaintenanceOn-sitemanagement
sites
Personnel class・Effective

Personnel class
I．Organization/

・Cultivating safety culture,

management

activities aimed at improving

Interview

IV．Transport/maintenancemanagement

moraletransport
management

Interview・Effective
maintenancemanagement
Personnel class

Person responsible classP
M

V．Important items

・Initiatives for preventing humanInterview

error

II.

Emergency

・Dissemination of

preparedness

emergency
preparedness

6

Interview

Fact confirmation
・Coordination with host・Writing closing report

Friday,Fact confirmation

June

Final coordination with host/final revision of closing report

20
A
M

Closing preparations (copying of documents, preparing venue)
Closing (explanation of results, closing address)

76. Review Method, Review Items, and Summarizing Review Results
The following explains review method, review items and how review results were summarized.
6.1 Review Method(1) Document review
Documents for each review item were explained, presented and then reviewed.
(2) Interviews
The company president who is the top of management, the head of the Rokkasho
Transport Operations Office, managers and general employees were interviewed under
the theme of “initiatives for nuclear safety, etc.” Further, questions were asked withrespect to reviewed documents.
(3) Site observation
Team reviewed NFT activities by observing closely how NFT personnel conduct
activities on site in conjunction with the result of document reviews and interviews.
Furthermore, team proactively developed mutual communication with NFT by providing
beneficial information and examples like best practices in industry during document
reviews, interviews and observations.
6.2 Review Items
The review items are the four areas of “organization/management”, “emergency
preparedness”, “education/training”, and “design, transport, and maintenance management”;
and “initiatives for safety during transport” and “human error prevention”.
6.3 Summarizing Review Results
For each review item, document review, interviews and site observations are conducted, andgood practices and areas for improvement are extracted.
Here, a “good practice” is a case “among activities to ensure safety at the Operations Officethat has implemented an appropriate, effective and unique method, and that JANTI members
wish to further convey to the nuclear power industry and that is an excellent case study.
An “area for improvement” is “a matter that seen from the perspective of aiming to bring8

nuclear safety to the highest standard, a proposal or the like that references best practices in
the nuclear power industry for further improvements in activities to ensure safety at the
Operations Office.” Therefore, some cases, even if the current state of activities is at or above
general standards in the nuclear power industry, may be used as a subject for an area for
improvement.

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7. Overview of Review Results
The NFT “management principles” that serve as the fundamental policies behind company
activities in nuclear fuel transport specify that “ensuring safety” is one of the four pillars and“ensuring safety as the utmost priority and improving work quality levels” are goals for
specific awareness and at the action level. Moreover, the company president appeals
vigorously to employees that “safety first” is always prioritized over “costs”, and it was
confirmed that employees of NFT, under strong leadership, are making aggressive efforts todevelop a safety culture and respond to issues.
Specifically, the following were confirmed to be steadily moving forward (1) activities toprevent deterioration by resin data falsification issues in the transport container
manufacturing stage, (2) activities to cultivate a safety culture in ocean shipping companies
that operate newly constructed ships, (3) transfer of technical information obtained fromexperience of transport and maintenance and shared general development, and (4) tightenedmanagement related to transport and maintenance, etc.
However, further improvements are desired for (1) associating procedure manual
improvement history column with nonconformity details and (2) preventing human error.
The following is an overview of the interview with the company president and an
explanation of the 6 good practices and 2 areas for improvement that were extracted from theresults of this review.
Note that these improvement items are not matters for which immediate response is required
from the perspective of nuclear safety.
The following is a summary of the interview with the company president.
(1) The people directly carrying out roles with respect to safety are the 115 employees of thecompany and all of the employees at the affiliate companies. “Safety first” is not just a
mantra but must be emphasized as a stance. Safety first must be conveyed to employees
who are on the responding side. No matter how diligent I am, the responding side must
be knowledgeable. Consequently, education, training and securing human resources are
required, and we have no regrets over costs for education and training.
(2) To date, we have poured the most effort into matters related to safe shipping on newly
built transport ships. With respect to shipping on newly built ships, instead of shippingwith a shipping company that we have asked in the past, we have begun asking a newshipping company to handle the shipping. And, while our company collaborates withthese new shipping companies, we start with asking “What is nuclear power safety?”10Through various activities, we aim to establish a nuclear power safety culture into every
part of the shipping company. Consequently, I feel that all employees of the new shipping
company come to have a deep understanding of what nuclear power safety culture is, andthat we have instilled a nuclear power safety culture in the new shipping company.
(3) Ethical issues such as the resin data falsification5 in the transport container
manufacturing stage are important issues. In light of this, we have set October 6 of eachyear as a “review date” and invite speakers to talk about safety.
(4) At the Mutsu-ogawara Port in Rokkasho-mura, Aomori Prefecture, we substantiallyoperate with only one berth. In the future, because of increases in the amount of spent
fuel, waste, MOX and plutonium being shipped, the berth will become extremely
congested. Moving forward, if measures are not established that anticipate the next fiveto ten years, the nuclear fuel cycle will fail to operate as it should. Top management at
power companies also need to be aware of this matter.
(5) Operations will expand over the next five to ten years, and in that time technicalcapability and human resources must be developed. Each year, the company hires two or
three new people, but since that is not enough, staff is secured by head-hunting for people
who can adapt strategically. In-service periods for equipment that are at critical points
such as cranes and shipping containers have been extended, and the amortization period
has ended, but it is still necessary to invest in preventive activities such as preventive
maintenance.
(6) Peer reviews are considered a good chance to not become close-minded.

7.1 Good Practices(Organization/management)(1) Development of health management for employees as quality objective
The Rokkasho Transport Operations Office has many employees who need to take healthmanagement measures. Resolving this issue is considered an urgent task, and from theperspective of ensuring human resources, development of such resolutions is a quality
objective. Specifically, persons needing some kind of treatment are given individual guidanceby an industrial doctor. In addition, from FY2007, for a “patient-to-be of lifestyle-related
illnesses” not yet having reached treatment, “an exercise, nutrition and individual program”
is developed by a specialized medical institution.

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(2) Activities to prevent deterioration by resin data falsification issues in the transport
container manufacturing stage (October 6, 1998)
October 6 each year has been established as a “review day”, a lecture on ethics is given by
the company president along with presentations on the narrative of the data falsification issue
and lecture meetings with prominent persons who have a deep and detailed knowledge ofcorporate crisis management. Further, to increase corporate ethics awareness higher from
FY2006, themes closely related to the worksite have been selected and informal gatherings
are held at the worksite. At the Rokkasho Transport Operations Office, all of the participants
discuss “how things should be”, analysis of one’s own current situation with respect to suchdiscussion, and problems are extracted. Moreover, specific measures for those problems areevaluated as a part of ongoing activities so that resin data falsification issues in the shipping
container manufacturing stage are not allowed to simply be forgotten.
Note that, this fiscal year, new initiatives have been planned to review what the fundamental
causes were such as through lectures by relevant persons, etc. so as to instill awareness.
Furthermore, from FY2006, a structure for manufacturing management attached toEngineering Section has been set up that is concerned with manufacturing of new spent fuelshipping containers.
(3) Activities to cultivate a safety culture in ocean shipping companies that operate newly
constructed ships
With respect to overseas shipping companies that operate newly constructed ships, while
confirming in advance the technical capability, costs, permit acquisition status, etc.,
education on the special characteristics of nuclear power (safety culture, radiation handlingwork, safety in shipping, etc.) is conducted for approximately two years, and the level ofunderstanding is confirmed by questionnaires, and issues in shipping are mutually reviewed.
A safety culture is thereby instilled.
(Emergency preparedness)
Establishment of an Emergency Preparedness Office
An Emergency Preparedness Office has been established in NFT, and, during emergencies,
an emergency preparedness head office is opened with the company president as the
director-general. Furthermore, emergency alert notification training and the like are also
conducted. Here, information such as the position of ships, images of ships, images of
Mutsu-ogawara Port, radiation management data, etc. can be grasped in real-time andinformation shared.
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(Education/training)
Transfer of technical information obtained from experience in shipping andmaintenance and common general development
Design fundamentals concerning the design of shipping containers and Q&A collections
related to inspections before shipping with respect to maintenance of shipping containers areprepared and technology transfer carried out. Furthermore, information of matters related toquality etc. that occur in maintenance are recorded on an information sheet and shared among
relevant persons in shipping container maintenance at the head office and the Rokkasho
Transport Operations Office. Such information is stored and entered into a knowledge bank,and made easy to search.
(Education/training, design, transport, maintenance management)
Thorough management related to transport and maintenanceManagement related to shipping and maintenance at the Rokkasho Transport Operations
Office is in a favorable state. Regarding shipping, all employees in addition to related
employees including persons in charge, security and operators of affiliate companies(including persons the company plans to hire) receive a broad education covering nuclear
power fundamentals, radiation management, inspection technology and so on.
Further, survey equipment, dosimeters and protective gear related to radiation management
are being managed in an orderly fashion, packaged and prepared for each duty so they can betaken with certainty. History management is thoroughly carried out for necessary parts formaintenance management of spent fuel shipping containers right down to small items such as
bolts, washers and gaskets.
(Important items)
None in particular
7.2 Areas for improvement(Organization/management)
Association of Procedure Manual Revision History with Nonconformity Details
Processing nonconformity corrections was such that, upon procedure manual revisions,descriptions of nonconformity details were not described in the revision history or were not cited
in nonconformity reports. To make the details of nonconformities up to revision easier tounderstand, it is desired that these be described in the revision history section of the procedure
manual or be cited.
13(Emergency preparedness)
None in particular.
(Education/training)
None in particular.
(Design/transport/maintenance management)
None in particular.
(Important items)(Human Error Prevention)
Active use of data such as know-how and near-miss data to prevent human error
From March 2007, to create data from near-miss incidents and aim for effective use thereof, thecompany has started a trial stage and has posted the data on the company network and will try touse such data in safety meetings or crisis prediction activities or the like. It is desired that items
including know-how and near-miss data and the like are reflected even more in work guidelines(instructions), and that a database be made from this and that data be used effectively.

1

Spent fuel: Fuel in a nuclear reactor that has been used for a specific period then removed. Because theremoved fuel contains, in addition to uranium, radioactive materials such as fission products created from thefission of plutonium and uranium after the uranium has absorbed neutrons, both radioactivity and decay heatfrom the fission products are high. Consequently, spent fuel is stored for a number of years in a spent fuelstorage pool to decrease the radioactivity and lower the decay heat. Japan has a policy to reuse plutonium
contained in spent fuel of light-water reactors; therefore, spent fuel is later transported to a reprocessing plant.
To date, the majority of spent fuel has been processed at reprocessing plants in England and France, but now
spent fuel will be reprocessed at a reprocessing plant under construction in Rokkasho-mura, Aomori
Prefecture.

2

Low-level radioactive waste: This term is broadly applied to general radioactive waste excluding high-level
radioactive waste (primary waste liquid and solids of spent fuel reprocessing). Here, the term refers to
low-level radioactive waste generated by nuclear power stations that is solid or solidified containing nuclides
at a low level with a comparatively short half-life that can be disposed in shallow ground (disposal ofradioactive waste in shallow ground having a depth of approximately several meters of topsoil that provides a
final natural barrier ), To date, waste subject to such disposal is waste of concentrated liquid, etc. solidified tobe homogeneous and uniform with cement or the like and miscellaneous solid waste such as metal that has
been form-filled with cement.

3

Returned vitrified waste: Currently a portion of the spent fuel of nuclear power stations is reprocessed inJapan, but other waste is outsourced to reprocessing companies in England and France. For reprocessing andreused, the uranium and plutonium are separated and recovered. High-level radioactive waste generated in thisreprocessing step is vitrified and sealed in stainless steel containers known as canisters. This vitrified waste has
been returned to Japan and stored successively from 1995 in accordance with the Reprocessing Outsourcing
Agreement. Such waste is known as returned vitrified waste.
144Natural uranium hexafluoride: A fluoride of natural uranium. Uranium hexafluoride at room temperature andnormal pressure is a colorless crystal. Because it sublimates at 56.5°C and becomes a gas, isotope separation of
the uranium (uranium concentration ) is used. While natural uranium hexafluoride does not react with oxygenor air, it reacts strongly with water, generating hydrogen fluoride. The resulting hydrogen fluoride is extremely
corrosive and also very toxic to living organisms. When shipping, the state of natural uranium hexafluoride istaken into consideration, and fireproof and shock-proof characteristics are fully ensured when attachingprotective gear and heat resistant covers, etc. of valves

5

Resin data falsification in the shipping manufacturing stage: In the manufacturing stage of shipping
containers to be used for transporting spent fuel to Rokkasho, an investigation of NFT and the then Genden
Koji K.K. found that chemical analysis data of resin for use in neutron shielding was rewritten by Genden Koji,
an affiliate company of the shipping container manufacturer, and this was disclosed on October 9, 1998.

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