Japan Nuclear Regulator Sought to Sway Public on Atomic Power

Chubu Says Japan Regulator Sought to Sway Public on Atomic Power

By Tsuyoshi Inajima and Yuji Okada - Jul 29, 2011 6:00 AM GMT-0400

Chubu Electric Power Co. said Japan’s nuclear regulator asked the utility to prepare questions favoring atomic power for a public hearing in 2007, compromising the watchdog’s code of conduct.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency -- which lists one of its codes of conduct as “neutrality and justice” -- asked Chubu to write queries on plutonium-thermal technology at its Hamaoka nuclear plant, so that “not all questions would be from opponents of the program,” Chubu Electric said today in a statement on its website.
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..Japan’s utilities are releasing information on non- transparent attempts to influence public opinion on nuclear power. This is after Kyushu Electric Power Co. said it asked staffers at affiliates to send e-mails supporting the restart of two reactors to an internet-broadcast show run by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on plant safety.

The behavior was called “unspeakable” and completely against the rationale of the program by Trade and Industry minister Banri Kaieda, who later called for the resignation of Kyushu Electric president Toshio Manabe....

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-29/chubu-says-japan-regulator-sought-to-sway-public-on-atomic-power.html

'Credibility shot to pieces' / Latest utility scandal also sullies govt nuclear safety agency

The Yomiuri Shimbun

An attempt by the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency to stifle public opposition to a plutonium-thermal power generation project at the Hamaoka nuclear power plant during a 2007 community symposium is the latest scandal to involve a nuclear power project.

...It comes hot on the heels of the e-mail scandal surrounding Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s attempts to resume operations at its Genkai nuclear plant.

But unlike the Kyushu Electric case, the Chubu Electric scandal features the direct involvement of the nuclear safety agency, the government body responsible for overseeing nuclear power plant operations. This cannot be seen as anything but an attempt to distort public opinion.

Residents near the plant and experts have reacted to the news with criticism, with one observer saying, "The credibility of nuclear energy administrators is shot to pieces."...

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110729006712.htm