President Of Japanese Electrical Utility Takes Responsibility For Astroturf Pro-Nuke Emails, Resigns

TOKYO — The president of a nuclear plant operator said on Thursday that he may resign as a result of a scandal over faked e-mails that has added a bizarre new twist to a decision whether to allow Japan’s idled reactors to restart in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.

The president of Kyushu Electric Power, Toshio Manabe, told reporters that he must take responsibility for the e-mails, which were sent by employees of subsidiaries who posed as regular citizens supporting the restart of two local reactors. The e-mails were sent on June 26 during a live televised public hearing on whether to restart the reactors at the Genkai Nuclear Power Station, and some may have been read on the air.

The company was apparently trying to sway public opinion in hopes of persuading the governor of southern Saga Prefecture, where Genkai is located, to support the restart. The governor, Yasushi Furukawa, has become the center of national attention as he deliberates over the reactors, which were shut down for routine maintenance before the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

As the first governor to face such a decision since the March disaster, Mr. Furukawa is widely seen as a bellwether of sorts for how other governors may decide. Currently, 35 of Japan’s 54 reactors are shut down, some because of earthquake or tsunami damage, but most for routine checks.

EDIT

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/08/world/asia/08japan.html?_r=1