The 12th Annual Meeting of 'Women In Nuclear (WIN)-Global' will be held in 17-22 May 2004 in Tokyo, Japan. WIN is a world-wide association of women working professionally in the fields of nuclear energy and application of radiation. The Annual Meeting has been focused on the theme of how women professionals working in nuclear area can promote public understanding effectively and successfully based on the great philosophy that public understanding is a key factor to the success of nuclear programmes. WIN-Asia, comprising national WIN organizations in Asia and the Pacific will also have a separate meeting at this occasion and will seek further progress in their networking and activities.

WIN-Global, established in 1992, currently has around 2,000 members in 57 countries. WIN-Asia is a regional organization of WIN-Global launched in 2001 in Korea when 9th Annual Meeting of WIN-Global held. At present, among RCA Member States, Australia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Pakistan and the Philippines are registered as WIN-Global members. The objective of WIN-Asia is to help each other in promoting better understanding about nuclear energy, in particular the use of radiation and radioisotopes, to the general public. WIN-Asia will have a separate meeting in connection with the 12th Annual Meeting of WIN-Global. At the WIN-Asia meeting on 17 May, endeavors to establish practical networking among the participating countries and also to encourage other countries in the region to join in WIN-Asia will be pursued. RCARO plans to partake in WIN-Asia in an effort to increase RCA profile to them so that the public awareness about the use of nuclear energy can be further promoted through their enhanced association.

The WIN-Global Annual Meeting will deal with a borad aspect of currently impending issues that the nuclear community faces, such as safety, waste management, development of nuclear industry particularly in Asia, economics of nuclear power, and so on. An open forum will also be arranged with the title of 'Will Nuclear Energy Remain as a Major Energy Source throughout the Century?'. Visit to Kashiwazaki Kariwa Nuclear Power Plants (BWRs) is scheduled on 20 May. After that, an optional tour to Hiroshima is planned. The 'Peace Memorial Museum' in Hiroshima is a UNESCO historic heritage.

For preparation of the 12th Annual Meeting of WIN-Global, a local Steering Committee has been set. Chairperson of the Steering Committee is Ms Noriko Kimoto, Commissioner, Japan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC). The Vice-chairperson is Ms Ogawa Junko, the current WIN-Japan President.

For more information, please write Ms Ogawa Junko at [email protected]
or visit to www.win-japan.org/eng/win_global_2004/12meeting.htm