WANO extends its condolences to the people of Japan, following the devastating impacts of Friday's earthquake and tsunami, with the association ready to offer its fullest support to its members in Japan.
WANO Chairman Mr Laurent Stricker said the association's thoughts are with the people of Japan, including WANO members and personnel, after the country experienced two of its worst natural disasters in living memory.
"This is a tragedy in every sense of the word, and the immediate priority for Japanese authorities and our members is emergency response," Mr Stricker said.
The dual effects of the earthquake and tsunami damaged Tokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, as well as several other plants along the north eastern coast of Japan.
"In these unpredictable and changing circumstances, it is dangerous to speculate on the situation at the affected nuclear power plants and certainly too early to draw conclusions.
"As an association that links the world's nuclear operators, WANO's immediate and ongoing focus is to support TEPCO and our members in Japan in every way we can," Mr Stricker said.
WANO will dedicate its efforts to assisting its Japan members through peer support and technical assistance as required.
WANO has established a strategy to manage the information coming from Japan and to coordinate the best possible support from utilities around the world as it is needed.
WANO will also provide additional resource support through its London, Paris, Moscow and Atlanta offices to support colleagues in the WANO Tokyo office. All WANO staff in Japan are confirmed to be safe.
Note to editors: WANO's Chairman Mr Laurent Stricker and Managing Director, Mr George Felgate are available for interviews to provide an operators' perspective on the situation in Japan. Their biographies are available online at: http://www.wano.info/regionaloffices/wano-london/
Contacts:
WANO
Michelle Wilson
London Communications
wilson@wanocc.org
WANO
George Felgate
Managing Director
Mobile: +44 7796 144 311
WANO
Laurent Stricker
Chairman
Mobile: +33 674 652 772