Chubu Electric Power President Minoru Yasui apologized on the 6th to a special committee of the Omaezaki city assembly over falsified seismic design data at the Hamaoka nuclear plant, saying the company takes the matter "extremely seriously and will respond sincerely."
The apology came after the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry issued a business improvement order — a formal instruction to correct practices, backed by reporting requirements — over the data falsification and other misconduct at the plant in Omaezaki, Shizuoka Prefecture.
At the meeting, Yasui explained a third-party investigation report on the falsification, in which the standard earthquake ground motion used as the benchmark for seismic design was underestimated. He said the company would work to prevent a recurrence and carry through what he called a "dismantling and rebuilding" of the organization.
Residents were not persuaded. "I can't accept Chubu Electric's explanation," one local resident said, according to the Mainichi Shimbun.
Ministry faulted governance
The ministry's order pointed to a "failure of governance functions" as the cause of the falsification: management issued instructions without adequately understanding the work of the nuclear division.
When an assembly member asked how the company viewed the order, Yasui's answer was among the parts of the Mainichi Shimbun report available only to subscribers.
On the same day, the Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation recommended that Chubu Electric carry out the recurrence-prevention measures, in connection with separate falsification over the decommissioning of Hamaoka reactors, the Mainichi Shimbun reported.
Yasui has also said that a lack of free and open discussion was one cause of the misconduct, the Mainichi Shimbun reported.