Chubu Electric Says It May Have Manipulated Earthquake Data For Hamaoka Nuclear Station

Reactors unlikely to restart anytime soon as ministry demands answers

Chubu Electric Says It May Have Manipulated Earthquake Data For Hamaoka Nuclear Station
The Hamaoka nuclear power station in Shizuoka Prefecture, southeastern Japan. Courtesy Chubu Electric/Creative Commons Licence.

Chubu Electric Power said on 5 January that the company might have “cherry-picked” earthquake data that caused authorities to screen safety standards at the Hamaoka nuclear power station in Shizuoka Prefecture, southeastern Japan, based on weaker seismic projections.

As such, reactors at the plant are unlikely to be restarted anytime soon, reports said. Units 3 and 4 at Hamaoka had been under safety screening by the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), but in response to the data issue, the process has been suspended since last month.

At a news conference at the company’s headquarters in the city of Nagoya, Chubu Electric Power’s president Kingo Hayashi revealed that quake data provided to the NRA was not calculated as it was supposed to have been.

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