With regard to TEPCO's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant, which has been plagued by a series of counter-terrorism problems, President Tomoaki Kobayakawa expressed his intention to respond sincerely to the Nuclear Regulation Authority's additional inspections to determine the status of improvements, as well as to continue to improve communication at the site.
At the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant in Niigata Prefecture, serious deficiencies in anti-terrorism measures have been revealed one after another, and the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) has issued an order effectively prohibiting the operation of the plant and is conducting additional inspections to check the status of improvements.
In response to a series of problems, TEPCO established a committee made up of outside experts in June to evaluate improvement efforts, and the second meeting was held on June 6, which was attended by five committee members, including lawyers and university experts, as well as TEPCO executives.
The meeting was held behind closed doors except at the beginning, but according to attorney Toshihiko Itami, who chairs the committee, there was a certain amount of praise that "a system for improvement has been put in place," such as the establishment of a "monitoring room" under the direct control of the president to observe the behavior of employees and others.
Speaking to the press after the meeting, Itami said, "The challenge for the future is how to operate the mechanism for improvement, and we would like to take a close look at it so that it does not become a formality."
TEPCO President Kobayakawa said, "Communication with partner companies and others has been evaluated as having room for improvement, and we will work on improvements while explaining to the local community."
In addition, regarding the fact that the regulatory commission is conducting additional inspections to check the status of improvement in order to determine whether to lift the driving ban order, President Kobayakawa said, "We will respond sincerely to the inspections, and there are still things that need to be improved, such as on-site communication, so we will continue to work on them."