THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
April 5, 2023 at 18:48 JST
The No. 2 reactor of the Tsuruga nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture operated by Japan Atomic Power (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Error-riddled documents submitted in the safety screening of a reactor in Fukui Prefecture that has already taken more than seven years will delay the process even further.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority announced on April 5 that it will order Japan Atomic Power Co. to resubmit required documents for the safety screening of its No. 2 reactor at the Tsuruga nuclear power plant by the end of August.
The documents that have been submitted since December were filled with so many errors that no accurate assessment could be made about the reactor’s safety.
The screening process will be suspended while Japan Atomic Power assembles the needed documents.
It is extremely rare for the NRA to take such an administrative action. A formal decision will be made after Japan Atomic Power executives are summoned for questioning.
The company has long been at odds with the NRA. A panel of experts under the authority issued a report that said an active fault ran directly beneath the No. 2 reactor of the Tsuruga plant.
Laws in Japan do not allow for the construction of a nuclear reactor directly above an active fault.
But Japan Atomic Power submitted an application for a safety screening in November 2015 to resume operations at the No. 2 reactor, arguing that no active fault existed under the reactor.
During the screening process, it came to light in 2020 that Japan Atomic Power had altered some of the documents submitted to the NRA. The following year, the NRA suspended the screening process on grounds the reliability of the documents submitted by Japan Atomic Power had been called into question.
After NRA officials searched the company’s offices, the decision was made that a new operating process had been constructed and the screening resumed in December.
But since then, NRA officials have uncovered 165 new errors in documents submitted by Japan Atomic Power, leading to the latest disciplinary measure.
(This article was written by Takuro Yamano and Ryo Sasaki.)
NRA halts Fukui nuclear reactor review over data manipulation
August 19, 2021
JAPC apologizes for altering research on fault under reactor
June 5, 2020
EDITORIAL: Safety data flap should disqualify JAPC as nuke plant operator
August 30, 2021
NRA agrees that no active fault exists under Shika nuke plant
March 4, 2023
New head of nuclear regulator vows to maintain transparency
September 27, 2022
Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors.
A peek through the music industry’s curtain at the producers who harnessed social media to help their idols go global.
Cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.
A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry
A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II
