Kohki Kuwahara

Senior Engineering Director and Project Manager at ZettaJoule

In his role as Senior Engineering Director at ZettaJoule, Kohki Kuwahara brings exceptional leadership to the engineering team, managing project scheduling, budget management and technical execution. 

He is responsible for the design of reactor and spent fuel storage buildings, engineering safety facility systems and mission-critical auxiliary systems.

Most notably

Kohki has a strong track record of successfully guiding complex nuclear projects by restoring efficiency, reinforcing quality control and stabilizing expenditures. During his tenure as a vice president at Toshiba Plant Systems America, Kohki was assigned to a special task force to address financial and management concerns at Westinghouse caused by the company’s AP1000 projects.

He has demonstrated success as a crisis management leader on international projects with multinational teams and budgets ranging from $1 billion to $18 billion.

Professional experience

Prior to joining ZettaJoule, Kohki was Executive Project Manager at Bruce International LLC, providing strategic guidance and leadership on complex nuclear projects to client Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO).

Previously, he worked at Toshiba Plant Systems for 15 years, rising steadily through the ranks by successfully completing international assignments to restore performance and bring challenging projects back on schedule and within budget.

During his managerial tenure at Toshiba, Kohki was appointed team leader for a special assignment to Westinghouse in the U.S. to support the construction turnaround at the then-new Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant Units 3 and 4. He led a team of 50 multinational engineers to successfully get the project back on schedule within two months. The basic design phase was completed, and the design data was transferred to the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for implementation.

While at Veolia Nuclear Solutions Japan Corporation, Kohki was assigned to the Sludge Stable Storage Project Group for Decontamination Equipment at TEPCO. In this role, he performed technical reviews, consulting, and project management including: feasibility assessments of the EPC schedule, formulation and management of the sub-master engineering schedule, technical evaluations of plant design documents, and preparation of design documents for licensing and approval by Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority.

Education

Kohki earned his degree at the National Institute of Technology Akita College, Department of Creative Systems Engineering.

More about Kohki

He enjoys playing golf, but Kohki is even more passionate about watching soccer. He is an avid fan who closely follows all things related to the World Cup. Kohki also enjoys playing shogi (Japanese chess). In his teen years, he was a high school national shogi champion.

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