Socially constructed resilience by multiple organizations; The Case of Tokai No.2 Power Station

Oba, Kyoko  ; Yoshizawa, Atsufumi*; Kitamura, Masaharu*

This paper focuses on the Tokai No.2 Nuclear Power Station, which was hit by earthquakes and subsequent tsunami in the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 but swiftly achieved cold shutdown. The earthquake struck the power station just before the scheduled completion of engineering work to raise the walls of the room housing a seawater intake pump. The fact that the work had been applied helped continuous operation of the seawater intake pump, a key piece of equipment for achieving cold shutdown. The power station followed its pre-defined procedure to bring its reactors to cold shutdown. Focusing on the background of the engineering work, which was not mentioned in past reports, this paper analyzes multiple organizations (main actors) based on the concept of Resilience Engineering to reveal how the collaboration between these organizations enhanced the power station's resilience, and considers the potential of such collaboration in boosting the resilience of our society.