Companies

TEPCO Pres. Named Pres. of Int’l Body for Nuclear Operators

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. headquarters in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo

Jiji Press

10:46 JST, October 2, 2024

Tokyo (Jiji Press)—Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. President Tomoaki Kobayakawa was appointed as the new president of the World Association of Nuclear Operators at a general meeting in the United Arab Emirates in late September, according to TEPCO.

Kobayakawa became the second Japanese to head WANO after the then TEPCO president who assumed the position in 1991.

At the general meeting Monday, Kobayakawa said he hopes that “TEPCO can contribute to improving safety at plants all over the world” based on lessons the company learned from the March 2011 accident at its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan.

WANO was established in 1989 with the aim of improving the safety of nuclear power plants in the wake of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident in the former Soviet Union. The association’s member companies are from more than 30 countries and regions. Its next general meeting will be held in Tokyo in 2026.