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2017 February 15 - 21 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Niigata governor criticizes TEPCO for lying about data needed to reactivate Kashiwazaki-Kariwa NPP

Niigata Governor Yoneyama Ryuichi on February 15 criticized Tokyo Electric Power Company for trying to gain the reactivation of its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant by disregarding flaws found in the plant’s emergency system.

In 2009, following the massive earthquake that hit Niigata two years earlier, TEPCO built a base-isolated building, an earthquake-resistant facility to cope with a quake-induced accident, at the NPP.

TEPCO in 2013 submitted to the Nuclear Regulation Authority an application to restart the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power station. In the following year, the utility conducted a numerical simulation test of the plant’s seismic-isolated building and found out that although the building is designed to avoid earthquake damage, it would be heavily damaged by design-basis ground motions of an earthquake. However, the power company did not include this finding in the information needed for the NRA’s evaluation of the application.

On February 14, in an NRA meeting to examine the restart of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa NPP, TEPCO for the first time spoke about the simulation result that the emergency building at the plant does not fulfill earthquake safety standards.

Soon after the meeting, the Niigata governor submitted to TEPCO a written request to explain why and how this omission occurred. The governor said that it is impossible for the company to ensure the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa NPP’s safety, considering its deception in its restart application procedure.

Past related article:
> Niigata Gov. Yoneyama to TEPCO: I will reject restarting of NPP [January 6, 2016]