Gov't officials' role in manipulating nuclear symposiums confirmed

Gov't officials' role in manipulating nuclear symposiums confirmed
The symposium on a "pluthermal" project at the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant is held in Omaezaki, Shizuoka Prefecture, on Aug. 26, 2007. (Mainichi)
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Central government officials were involved in attempts to manipulate how public opinion on nuclear power is presented at government-sponsored symposiums, a third-party panel investigating the matter said Tuesday.
According to an interim report submitted by the panel to the industry ministry the same day, officials of the government's nuclear safety agency asked utility firms to encourage people related to the utilities to attend nuclear power symposiums several years ago and to voice opinions supportive of nuclear plants.
The three "pluthermal" nuclear project symposiums were held by Kyushu Electric Power Co. in October 2005 on its Genkai power plant, Shikoku Electric Power Co. in June 2006 on its Ikata plant and Chubu Electric Power Co. in August 2007 on its Hamaoka plant.
Pluthermal power generation uses plutonium-uranium mixed oxide fuel, which contains plutonium extracted from spent fuel, in existing reactors and is an important pillar of Japan's nuclear program.
"It's very regrettable that the government's involvement in the pluthermal symposiums linked to the Genkai, Ikata and Hamaoka nuclear power plants was confirmed," Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Banri Kaieda said in a statement.
Panel head Takashi Oizumi, a lawyer who once headed the Osaka High Public Prosecutors Office, said at a press conference that government officials' involvement is also suspected in five more cases related to similar events held by Kyushu Electric and Tohoku Electric Power Co., and that the panel will investigate the matter further.
The panel consisting of four legal experts aims to compile its final report by the end of September.
Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency chief Hiroyuki Fukano offered an apology for the agency officials' involvement at a press conference, saying, "I apologize to the citizens and those concerned."
"Essentially, (the agency) should have a culture in which officials act rightly and fairly, but it was not the case," he said.
The report said a Shikoku Electric official in charge of the symposium in question produced a memo saying that a nuclear safety agency official told the utility employee that the key to the symposium's success was securing enough attendees and suppressing the views of people opposed to nuclear power projects.
The panel was set up earlier this month by the industry ministry, which has the agency under its wing, to investigate allegations that the agency asked utilities to dress up public symposiums on atomic energy to make local communities appear supportive of nuclear power plants.
The allegations emerged following the revelation of a scandal in which senior officials of Kyushu Electric Power Co. tried to manipulate public opinion on its Genkai nuclear plant in its favor in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear plant accident.
State-sponsored symposiums on nuclear power have been held across the country to enable local leaders to consider the operations of nuclear power plants in their jurisdictions.
(Mainichi Japan) August 31, 2011