ASNR meets its partners in Japan
From 23 to 25 March 2026, a delegation from the French Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Authority (ASNR), led by its President Pierre-Marie Abadie and comprising Commissioner Stéphanie Guénot-Bresson, Director of Nuclear Safety Expertise Igor Le Bars, Deputy Director for International Affairs Thierry Granier, and Deputy Head of the ERASME Unit within the Directorate for Nuclear Pressure Equipment Rachel Vaucher, travelled to Japan for high-level meetings with its two main Japanese partners in the field of nuclear safety.
The mission began in Tokyo with the 10th bilateral meeting with the Japanese Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), attended by its Chairman, Shinsuke Yamanaka, and two of its commissioners. This meeting provided an opportunity to review current safety issues in both countries and to discuss several topics of mutual interest: fuel reprocessing, cooperation on inspection practices, stress corrosion cracking, fuel behaviour under accident conditions, marine nuclear propulsion, regulatory framework for fusion, and artificial intelligence. Priority cooperation initiatives for the coming year were also updated.
The delegation subsequently met with the President of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), Masanori Koguchi. On this occasion, the cooperation agreement between ASNR and JAEA in the field of nuclear safety research was renewed.
These meetings were followed by a visit to the Tokai Daini nuclear power station, which is currently in shutdown and where major work to strengthen tsunami defences is currently underway. The delegation also visited the JAEA’s Tokai and Oarai sites to tour several experimental and research facilities, including STACY – one of the few facilities in the world capable of studying criticality accidents, the subject of a long-standing collaboration with IRSN – as well as the HTTR high-temperature gas-cooled experimental reactor.
The mission concluded with a dinner at the French Embassy in Tokyo, hosted by Ambassador Béatrice Le Fraper du Hellen, during which ASNR’s partnerships were placed within the broader context of Franco-Japanese relations.
This visit helped to strengthen ties between ASNR and its Japanese counterparts in terms of both regulation and oversight, as well as expertise and research. The fruitful discussions confirmed the mutual interest in close and lasting cooperation in the face of shared challenges in nuclear safety and radiation protection. The next highlight of this cooperation will be a tripartite ASNR/NRA/JAEA seminar dedicated to research, to be held in November 2026.
Seated, from left to right: Tomoyuki SUGIYAMA (Commissaire NRA), Pierre-Marie ABADIE (Président ASNR), Shinsuke YAMANAKA (président de NRA), Stéphanie GUENOT-BRESSON (Commissaire ASNR).
Standing, from left to right: Teruyo FUNADA (NRA), Shinji KINJO (NRA), Igor LEBARS (ASNR), Rachel VAUCHER (ASNR), Thierry GRANIER (ASNR).
Left, Pierre-Marie ABADIE, President of ASNR, and right, Masanori KOGUCHI, President of JAEA.