The Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) returned to the Fukushima Prefecture on 27-29 July 2024 for the eighth NEA International Mentoring Workshop in Japan, the sixth to be held in Fukushima. Organised in partnership with Japan’s Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation (NDF) and its President Hajimu Yamana, the workshop gathered 43 secondary school students from Fukushima and 4 high school students from Illinois, United States.
NEA Director-General William D. Magwood, IV welcomed the workshop participants noting that each mentoring workshop is different because it is shaped by the students participating in it. “You are in this room today to help shape the future. Take full advantage of your talents, skills and dreams to make the world a better place, to bring change to Japan, to the world, to humanity,” said Director-General Magwood.
NEA Director-General William D. Magwood, IV opens the workshop.
Embracing the concept of Joshikai (a “girls’ gathering” in Japanese), the immersive workshop aimed to boost confidence through interactive discussions with female leaders in the nuclear sector in Japan, Korea, the United States and the United Arab Emirates who shared inspiring stories about their experiences, career paths and the personal and professional challenges overcome along the way. Acting as mentors, these experts were led by Fiona Rayment, President of the Nuclear Institute, United Kingdom, and Kimiko Murofushi, Professor Emeritus, Ochanomizu University.
“These girls are amazing, they just need some help to understand what opportunities there may be and what confidence you need to create for yourself,” said workshop Co-Chair Fiona Rayment. “Let’s get that talent pipeline started; let’s get more women into STEM. Hopefully, some of them will choose the nuclear field, and we will get to the situation where we will have much more gender balance moving forward. Because diversity also equals better business. It creates better productivity, better working environments and better profits.”
NDF President Hajimu Yamana and workshop Co-Chair Fiona Rayment lead the roundtable discussion.
Leading a group of seven students from Japan and the United States, one of the international mentors, Sara Al Saadi, Nuclear Safety Director at the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (United Arab Emirates), highlighted a wide range of career options in STEM. “This workshop brings the students together to help them understand how they can help society. The nuclear field is massive and offers many opportunities and this workshop is especially important here in Japan, where the decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant will require the skillset of the next generation,” said Sara Al Saadi.
Sara Al Saadi, Nuclear Safety Director at the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (United Arab Emirates), engages with a group of Japanese and American students.
Themed “You can do it!”, the 2024 edition of the workshop took place in Futaba town on Japan’s Pacific coastline, which was hit by a tsunami in March 2011 following the strongest ever recorded earthquake in Japan. The accident at the nearby Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant led to the complete evacuation of the 7 000 town residents. Following an evacuation order lift in Futaba in August 2022, reconstruction initiatives are underway to rebuild local infrastructure, revitalise commercial activities and attract both former and new residents.
Against this background, participants of the mentoring workshop had a chance to learn more about the reconstruction efforts from Shiro Izawa, Mayor of Futaba town, as well as through visits to the Great East Japan Earthquake and Nuclear Disaster Memorial Museum and the nearby Asano Nenshi Factory, the first company to return to Futaba. A tour of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant provided an opportunity to learn more about the progress made and the next steps in the decommissioning process of the site.
Group presentation led by Carolyne Joseph, workshop mentor and Site Vice President, Dresden Nuclear Power Station, Illinois, United States.
The workshop also featured guest speeches from leading figures in the Japanese nuclear sector, academia and the NEA. It included a poster session with young Japanese female researchers who presented their academic work and shed light on their research in STEM.
Kouetsu Yamazaki, President, Fukushima Institute for Research, Education and Innovation, delivers a lecture at the Great East Japan Earthquake and Nuclear Disaster Memorial Museum in Futaba.
Junior researchers present their research during a poster session.
With 26 mentoring workshops held around the world and hundreds of workshop “graduates”, the NEA continues to assist member countries in their efforts to ensure the future nuclear workforce is diverse and gender balanced.
