Sellafield Ltd and Japan prove the value of continued cooperation
The re-signing of a cooperation agreement between Tokyo Electric Power Company and Sellafield Ltd brings continued collaboration.
The signing of the cooperation agreement between Sellafield Ltd and TEPCO
Sellafield Ltd and the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) will continue to work together following the re-signing of a cooperation agreement.
The 2 companies have committed to sharing knowledge, experience, and best practice on nuclear site management, environmental monitoring, radiation protection, and project delivery.
Sellafield Ltd has a long-standing relationship with the Japanese utility company, particularly its Fukushima Daiichi Decontamination and Decommissioning Engineering Company (FDEC) following the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in the wake of the great east Japan earthquake of 2011.
An initial 5-year cooperation agreement was signed by the 2 organisations in 2014.
Both parties have benefited from the agreement which was extended for a further 5 years in 2019, but the official signing was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The agreement demonstrates the value to the international nuclear community of the decades of experience and that has been built at the UK’s most complex nuclear site.
During their time at Sellafield representatives from Fukushima Daiichi witnessed the progress being made at the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo (MSSS) and the Pile Fuel Cladding Silo (PFCS) and visited our Engineering Centre of Excellence at Cleator Moor, West Cumbria.
The delegation was particularly interested to see how wastes from the silos are being retrieved, packaged and managed, as this has parallels with their own fuel debris retrieval project in Japan.
Akira Ono, chief commissioning officer at Fukushima Daiichi, said:
I’d like to express my gratitude for Sellafield Ltd’s support to Fukushima Daiichi decommissioning that has provided us with many learning opportunities and experiences.
It’s fruitful to see decommissioning progress and the wide variety of technologies to enable decommissioning.
Martin Chown, chief executive officer of Sellafield Ltd said:
The cooperation agreement is very important to us. TEPCO are strong partners, and we are happy to share our experiences.
I’m pleased that Ono-san has been able to visit Sellafield and witness retrievals at MSSS, a real step forward in risk reduction on the site. We have much in common and we continue to have open and beneficial discussions.