Message from New President & CEO

The nuclear power station accidents at the U.S. Three Mile Island-Unit 2 in 1979 (TMI accident), at the former USSR Chernobyl in 1986 and at the Fukushima Daiichi in 2011 had severe impacts on the entire human society. They also influenced greatly on nuclear power energy policies of many countries. Many of us witnessed and experienced those events.

Japan Nuclear Safety Institution (JANSI) was established in 2012 as a private third party organization based on the firm determination and reflections of the Japanese nuclear industry that “never allow those accidents to happen again,” and our mission is to pursue the world’s highest level of safety.

Nuclear power stations in Japan have been going back on line one after another thanks to relentless efforts of the domestic nuclear industry, JANSI Chairman Webster, its former President & CEO Yamazaki and its employees. To keep taking initiatives to further improve safety, that is, to pursue excellence, is the responsibility and the commitment shared by the industry and JANSI. JANSI will keep serving its mission to lead such initiatives.

The JANSI Ten-Year Strategy developed in March 2019 was revised at the end of FY2023, the fifth year of the Strategy, based on the achievements so far and business environmental changes to make it work for the new ten years. The foundation of our initiatives will not change in the future, but we will engage in 14 Main Actions to better serve the operators based on our achievements and by addressing current challenges.

JANSI models after Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) in the U.S. which had been established after the TMI accident. I have stayed for two weeks at INPO located in the suburb of Atlanta, Georgia to learn their latest initiatives. INPO has 45 years of history and keeps learning the latest scientific knowledge to update their initiatives even after nuclear power stations in the U.S. achieved high performance. For example, they are making a study on measures to further improve the plant performance by making analyses using data science. JANSI, under its new Ten-Year Strategy, will also learn such latest knowledge proactively and continuously, and improve its activities so that we can lead and support the initiatives taken by the nuclear industry to pursue excellence.

There is a watchword “Goanzen-ni! (Stay Safe!)” used by the nuclear operators in Japan at the nuclear power stations. JANSI, with the operators, will strive for the desired end state of nuclear safety which would be modelled after by overseas nuclear operators.

With such determination and inclination, “Sarani Goanzen-ni! (We will achieve even higher standards of safety!)”

Isao Kato
President & CEO
Japan Nuclear Safety Institute