Lady Barbara Judge met with members of the Japanese and international media on October 12, 2013

October 12, 2013-Visiting Tokyo, Lady Barbara Judge CBE, Deputy Chairman of TEPCO's Nuclear Reform Monitoring Committee met with members of the Japanese and international media to share her experience as chairman of the United Kingdom's Atomic Energy Authority in creating a strong nuclear safety culture.

In response to questions from the media about the UK decommissioning experience, Lady Judge noted that the British government had created a Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) to oversee all of the country's civil nuclear decommissioning. While a direct copy of the UK model is not appropriate for Japan, she said there may be learning from the NDA which are useful to TEPCO.

She further noted however that the UK experience, which recognizes the need for greater specialization in nuclear decommissioning, could be borrowed and adapted for Japanese needs, and that TEPCO could consider creating a specific subsidiary or division to specialize in decommissioning activities. As decommissioning and power generation require different skill-sets, TEPCO would need to employ foreign and domestic decommissioning experts working alongside its existing employees in this new division. Increased specialization and management oversight would allow for a stronger safety culture in both operations and decommissioning.

Looking to the future, Lady Judge made comments to the press that in her view Japan needed nuclear power as part of its overall energy mix due to natural resource constraints and the need for greater independence from foreigh energy imports. She pointed out that Japan had some of the world's best nuclear technology and that the learning from Fukushima would inform and guide the creation of world-class safety standards.