Japan's nuclear watchdog slams TEPCO for inaccurate information ahead of reactors' restart

Japan's nuclear watchdog blasted Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) for providing an extensive amount of inaccurate information related to plans to restart two of its nuclear reactors in Niigata Prefecture, local media reported Wednesday.

The information was about buildings at TEPCO's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata.

The buildings were to be used as headquarters in the case of an emergency.

Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) heard from TEPCO officials that one of the buildings failed to meet the regulator's earthquake resistance standards in all 7 tests required to be passed by the NRA.

The embattled utility said that the building had failed only 5 out of 7 of the NRA's tests, and as a result told the regulator that was in the final stages of screening the No. 6 and 7 reactors that the building would not be used.

TEPCO said its latest gaffe was due to a communication problem between departments, to which the NRA slammed the error as being unacceptable and demanded further details and for TEPCO to resolve its latest blunder.

TEPCO was the embattled owner and operator of the Daiichi facility in Fukushima Prefecture at the time of the worst commercial nuclear disaster in history there in 2011, and one which has yet to be fully brought under control.

The Japanese government has said it will likely continue its effective state ownership of TEPCO because the expected costs for decommissioning the plant and paying compensation to the victims continue to escalate. Endit