The school’s Executive Committee is chaired by DEMACHI Hideyuki, professor at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Engineering.

NEMS is a training course for future leaders expected to be responsible for issuing and managing nuclear energy plans and programs around the world. This is the tenth NEMS held in Japan. There are 24 participants, from Brazil, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Ghana, Indonesia, Mexico, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Vietnam and Japan.

For three weeks until August 5, they will attend lectures and group discussions at the University of Tokyo’s Hongo Campus, the main site. In the second week, they will go to Fukushima Prefecture for a technical tour, visiting the Fukushima Daiichi and elsewhere, seeing the current state of decommissioning as well as reconstruction of the Fukushima region.

At the opening ceremony at the Hongo Campus, Mikhail CHUDAKOV, head of the IAEA’s Department of Nuclear Energy, delivered a video message. Referring to the importance of nuclear energy in climate change countermeasures and for achieving SDGs, he said that he had high hopes for NEMS.

Present as a guest, UESAKA Mitsuru, chair of the Japan Atomic Energy Commission and former chair of the NEMS Executive Committee, talked about the current global energy security crisis brought on by the Ukraine situation and re-emphasized the role of nuclear power.

He told the participants—those engaged in nuclear power—that it was important not only to master the science and technology, but to grasp the sociological and ethical aspects as well. He also said that he expected their participation in NEMS would result in expanded multinational networks of people eyeing the future of nuclear power clearly.