Japanese energy company executives resign over falsification of safety data
The head of Chubu Electric Power, Japan's third-largest energy company, said he and the chairman of the board were stepping down to take over the company.
The head of Chubu Electric Power, Japan’s third-largest energy company, said he and his chairman were stepping down to take responsibility for the company’s years-long manipulation of seismic safety data from two nuclear reactors.
Japan is gradually restarting some of the 54 nuclear reactors that were shut down in 2011 after the Fukushima disaster.
Chubu Electric’s announcement comes as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government has accelerated the restart of nuclear reactors amid rising energy prices and pressure to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Chubu Electric's chief executive, Kingo Hayashi, said an external investigation team had established that the company had for years provided fake seismic data for its No. 3 and No. 4 reactors in Hamaoka to ensure the numbers met requirements.
“Given that the reliability of the safety data has been seriously questioned, the company has decided to withdraw the application to restart the two reactors,” Hayashi said.
He and chairman Satoru Katsuno were not directly involved in data manipulation. But the report said senior management had set a key goal of resuming work as soon as possible, and harshly reprimanded the team working to obtain a resumption permit for protracted scrutiny that may have prompted them to engage in misconduct.
