Chubu Electric N-Plant Screening to Be Scrapped: NRA Chief

Tokyo, Jan. 7 (Jiji Press)--Shinsuke Yamanaka, chief of Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority, said Wednesday that he expects the NRA's screening of Chubu Electric Power Co.'s Hamaoka nuclear power plant in Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan, for a possible restart will be scrapped.

"I expect the screening process to go back to square one," he told a press conference.

His statements came after Chubu Electric was found to have cherry-picked data that underestimated earthquake risk for the Hamaoka plant, located in the city of Omaezaki, for submission to the NRA for its inspection.

"We need to redo the screening itself," Yamanaka said, adding that the nuclear watchdog's secretariat should conduct an on-site probe into the power company.

At a regular NRA meeting held earlier in the day, Yamanaka said that Chubu Electric's actions were "a fabrication of screening data directly related to (nuclear plant) safety and (therefore) clear misconduct." The NRA will suspend its screening of the Hamaoka plant, he said.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]