We have to go on providing the low-cost and stable supply of electricity that underpins socioeconomic activities, and we have to restore the soundness of our corporate performance in fulfillment of our investors' and stockholders' expectations. We are conscious that in order to achieve those tasks, it will be essential to work ceaselessly at improving safety at our nuclear power station, and to restart it at an early date. In order to restart this facility, I believe three things will be of major importance: we must get through the NRA's examination, we must complete the measures required by the regulatory standards, and we must obtain the understanding of the local people.

State of Compliance Examination
We applied for compliance verification examination of our Shimane Nuclear Power Station's Unit 2 - one of the three plants at this power station - in December 2013, and it is currently undergoing examination by the NRA.
The examination is broadly divided into two parts proceeding in parallel: one relates to earthquakes/tsunamis and the other to equipment. Regarding the earthquake/tsunami-related part of the examination, we received certain comments in the examination meetings concerning the need to expand the data for assessment of active faults in the sea to the front of the power station and in the land surrounding its site on the other sides. In response to those comments we have been conducting additional geological surveys since May in order to verify the soundness of the assessments. We hope to complete analysis of the data and give an explanation of it to the NRA as soon as the additional surveys are finished.
For our part, we will be accurately and appropriately accommodating the examination, so that the NRA's verification of compliance with the new regulatory standards can be smoothly carried through.

State of Safety Measures
Concurrently with such accommodation of the examination, we are proceeding with safety measures for the power station. In addition to works on the measures to comply with the new regulatory standards, we are assiduously implementing voluntary measures to raise safety even higher, such as works to improve the seismic safety margins for important equipment. We plan to complete within this fiscal year all the works on the measures that are assumed to be prerequisites for restart of Unit 2, including work on the Important Equipment Aseismic Building and the filtered vent equipment for Unit 2.
The local people's understanding will also be essential in order to restart the nuclear power station and to make continuous use of it without any unscheduled stoppages. The government makes the following statements in its Basic Energy Plan.

  • (a) "When the Nuclear Regulation Authority deems that the regulatory standards are complied with, nuclear power stations will move ahead with restart."
  • (b) "The national government will proactively make efforts to obtain the understanding and cooperation of the local authorities and other concerned entities/persons where the power stations are sited."

At the same time that it is moving ahead with equipment-related efforts aimed at raising safety, Chugoku Electric is working to raise human-factor safety. It is doing this by, for example, effecting continual raising of employees' awareness and coping skills, in ways such as implementing accident response drills. We will be giving the local people a series of respectful explanations about these efforts, and hope this will lead to gaining their understanding and confidence concerning the safety of nuclear power generation.

Shimane Unit 3
The advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR) to be employed as Unit 3 at Shimane Nuclear Power Station is a plant with outstanding safety and reliability that was developed jointly by the government, manufacturers and power companies. Already adopted by other power companies in Japan, this plant will be a mainspring of competitiveness for Chugoku Electric. The equipment itself is already complete, and the pre-use inspections carried out ahead of fuel loading have all ended.
Currently we are engaged in efforts toward raising this unit's safety, and carrying out preparations to apply for verification of its compliance. We will be making that application as soon as the preparations are in order.

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