Chubu Electric Power considers withdrawing Hamaoka nuclear plant restart review application

Chubu Electric Power Company (CEPCO) is considering withdrawing its restart review application for Units 3 and 4 of the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant. The plant is located in Omaezaki City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, and it was previously revealed that seismic design data related to the restart review was suspected of falsifying “design basis ground motion” data, making the ground motion amplitude in the submitted materials lower than originally expected.

On the morning of the 11th, Chubu Electric Power announced that it had received a report submitted by an investigation committee composed of external lawyers. The committee was commissioned by Chubu Electric Power to investigate the causes and process of the seismic design data issue at the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant. Chubu Electric Power President Shingo Hayashi and others plan to hold a press conference on the afternoon of the 14th to explain the contents of the report and subsequent response measures. Hayashi stated that he will make a comprehensive assessment of his own management responsibility based on the contents of the report.

Chubu Electric Power had previously submitted restart safety review applications for Hamaoka Units 3 and 4 to the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA). In January of this year, the company admitted that in the process of formulating design basis ground motion data, there was suspicion of deliberately selecting data inconsistent with the explanations given at review meetings. The NRA subsequently suspended the safety review of the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant and conducted an on-site inspection of Chubu Electric Power's headquarters in Nagoya.

In December of last year, after receiving Chubu Electric Power's report on the data falsification issue, the NRA had already halted the relevant safety review. The NRA plans to study whether to take disciplinary measures in light of the external lawyers' investigation report. In July of this year, it was also reported that Chubu Electric Power continued to proceed with problematic data processing even after discovering the data falsification issue in May of last year.

If Chubu Electric Power ultimately withdraws its application, the restart review process for Hamaoka Units 3 and 4, which has lasted more than ten years, will be suspended, and the prospects for restarting the nuclear power plant will become even more uncertain. Chubu Electric Power previously estimated that the safety measure costs for the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant would be approximately 400 billion yen. Since the misconduct was discovered, the restart timeline for the plant has remained unclear; in the business policy announced in April of this year, Chubu Electric Power also did not clarify the subsequent arrangements for its nuclear power business.

In addition to the data falsification issue at the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant, Chubu Electric Power has recently disclosed multiple management problems. In August, the company announced that there were procedural improprieties in the decommissioning work at the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant. On the 10th of this month, Chubu Electric Power also stated that there were errors in electricity bill calculations for residential and other customers, and that corrections had not been completed for more than two years.

It was also revealed that Chubu Electric Power Chairman Tetsuya Katsuno plans to resign to take responsibility for management failures. Other management members are also believed to be considering resignation.