The Japanese standardisation programme was a collaborative effort between the

government and industry, led by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry

(MITI) (IAEA-TECDOC-968, 1997). It started as early as the mid-1970s with the

objective of standardising LWR designs on the operating plants of the day. A later phase

starting in 1981, aimed to establish a Japanese capability for LWR design based on in­house technology.

The advanced pressurised water reactor (APWR) and advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR) have been developed against these utility requirements policy. Future LWRs based on evolutionary developments of these designs are being investigated by MITI and other industry groups. Mitsubishi and Westinghouse initiated in 1994, a successor programme to the APWR. Japanese BWR utilities together with Hitachi, Toshiba and General Electric (GE) initiated the ABWR evolutionary programme in 1990.