As this is our first press conference of the new year, I would like to take the opportunity to ask you, the members of the Energy Press Club, for your continued support in the year ahead. I would also like to share with you some of my aspirations for the coming year.

Although there are a great number of issues to be faced in 2003, by far the most important are the restoration of public trust in nuclear power, and our response to increased market deregulation.

With regard to the restoration of public trust, we are currently preparing a final report on the voluntary self-inspections being conducted at nuclear power-generating facilities.

In addition, I believe we must continue to address the issue through the activities of the Trust Restoration Committee that was established at the end of last year. I will report on the results of today's committee meeting later, but I sincerely hope that closer communication with regional communities and strengthened activities will allow us to build a relationship of trust.

As I have frequently commented in the past, trust is the foundation on which our management rests. The speedy restoration of the trust among customers and the residents of communities where power-generating facilities are sited is therefore our highest priority.

With respect to electric power industry deregulation, I believe that the Electricity Industry Committee proposals made on December 27 of last year call for a Japanese model of fair competition under a single-source system that enables a stable power supply to be maintained.

Hereafter, following a period of public comment, we expect to enter a period of more detailed and specific planning. As members of the electric power industry, we plan to cooperate with concerned parties to maintain a competitive environment that will be widely trusted by all.

Although progress was made in discussions on the establishment of a foundation for competition, I think there are still problems relating to energy security and environmental preservation that should have been resolved first.

This is particularly true with respect to the fuel cycle and other efforts to promote nuclear power generation, for which appropriate systems and measures must be considered and developed to ensure that they are matched to new power industry deregulation measures.

The cost structure must be analyzed and evaluated particularly with regard to back-end operations, and there is an urgent need for economic measures and the role of the public and private sectors to be considered.

What needs to be kept in mind is that all citizens enjoy the benefits of proper energy security and environmental policies, and all should therefore share a small fraction of the costs.

Although the business environment will doubtless become even more competitive in the future, we plan to continue to strengthen customer service and management efficiency while maintaining fairness and transparency. If we diligently strive to compete, we believe that our customers and all Japanese citizens will benefit.

These are our aspirations for the new year, which I feel in many respects will mark a crucial turning point for the future of nuclear power.

I would now like to comment on electricity demand during December, and our hopes for economic recovery. The demand bulletin for December that was released today is shown in Reference Document 1-1.

Electricity sales across the 10 companies rose for the fifth consecutive month to total 68.1 billion kWh, which is 102.1% of the figure recorded for the same month last year.

Reference Document 1-2 shows large industrial user demand, which is highly responsive to economic trends. Here the figures were 104% against the same period last year, rising for the sixth consecutive month.

On a sector-by-sector basis, all major industries except textiles have shown year-on-year gains since October. Judging by electric power demand, it would appear that production is recovering as inventories have been adjusted.

Nevertheless, the January economic report issued last week forecasts decline for the third consecutive month. In view of uncertainty in the U.S. economy, deflationary trends in Japan, low share prices, and a worsening employment situation, there continues to be cause for caution and concern. In any case, we remain hopeful and will be keeping a close watch on electricity demand.

I would now like to comment on the results of the third Trust Restoration Committee meeting that was held today in conjunction with today's General Policy Committee meeting. Details are shown in Reference Document 2.

At today's meeting of the Trust Restoration Committee, it was decided to strengthen the committee's links with the NSNet (Nuclear Safety Network).

As is explained on the second page of the reference materials, the NSNet is an organization founded in December 1999, in the wake of the JCO accident that occurred in September of that year. Its mission is to increase safety awareness and share safety information throughout the nuclear power industry.

As part of our efforts to restore public trust, we are actively seeking the opinions of industry outsiders, and want to exchange information in a broad range of areas. As is shown on the first page of the reference materials, we particularly hope to strengthen our relationship with the NSNet in the following areas.

First of all, we will work closely on the peer review process. This process involves teams of experts drawn from the ranks of NSNet members, who visit one another's facilities to review and evaluate procedures at each site. The NSNet has already conducted reviews focusing on ethical issues and measures to prevent improper data manipulation, and we plan to apply our own checks to this type of new undertaking.

In addition, with respect to exemplary procedures found during the review process, we will work to see that they are actively incorporated into ongoing safety promotion activities. Trust Restoration Committee members will also periodically exchange opinions with the chairman of the NSNet to ensure that reform measures are being effectively implemented.

With regard to the "Safety Caravan," whose purpose is to promote safety awareness through lectures and the exchange of opinions at NSNet member facilities, we plan to strengthen ethical lectures and research, and have electric power companies take the lead in promoting the direct involvement of management personnel. We have also decided to reinforce ethical standards among members and cooperating companies by emphasizing ethical issues in publications and ongoing seminar programs.

By exchanging information with those involved in nuclear power and addressing issues at a peer-to-peer level, we are prepared to work steadily to regain the public trust.