Tokyo Electric Power Co., Asia's biggest utility, will delay completion of two nuclear reactors after admitting that an accident was covered up in 1978, the latest blow to public confidence in Japan's atomic power program.
Fukushima Daiichi's seventh and eighth reactors will be finished in October 2013 and 2014, a year later than planned, the utility said today. The company may have to report safety breaches in addition to a possible chain reaction during a shutdown three decades ago, said President Tsunehisa Katsumata.
Trade Minister Amari Akira has demanded that the industry come clean by end-March, prompting utilities to reveal more than 200 cases of falsified safety data and concealed incidents. Japan, which buys 89 percent of its oil from the Middle East, wants new reactors to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and curb reliance on energy imports.
``I was too shocked for words'' after hearing that Tokyo Electric may have hidden the accident, Yuhei Sato, governor of Fukushima prefecture, said on NHK television on March 22. ``Tokyo Electric can't restore trust without keeping its pledge on safety.''
Tokyo Electric shares fell 1.5 percent to 4,090 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The stock has risen 6.2 percent this year, compared with a 7.1 percent advance in the Topix Electric Power & Gas index.
Safety Documents
In 2002, Tokyo Electric was ordered to shut all of its 17 reactors after admitting that employees had falsified nuclear safety documents since the late 1980s. The government ordered inspections at most of its plants. The company hid faults in cooling pipes and outer casings in 12 of its reactors.
Japan had its worst lethal nuclear accident in August 2004, when five people were killed as steam burst from a ruptured pipe at Kansai Electric Power Co.'s reactor.
In September 1999, two workers of JCO Co., a unit of Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., were killed by radiation after pouring uranium from a bucket into a processing tank. The fuel reprocessing plant has since been dismantled.
A slowdown in the expansion of nuclear power in Japan, the third-largest atomic generator after the U.S. and France, may boost the development of other energy sources. Yesterday, Chubu Electric, Japan's third-largest power producer, said it will spend 228 billion yen ($1.9 billion) to build plants that generate power using wind and natural gas-fired generators.
Katsumata's Apology
Tokyo Electric's Katsumata apologized on March 23, a day after his company said an unexpected chain reaction may have started during a shutdown in 1978 of Fukushima Daiichi power station's No. 3 reactor. Chain reactions are not meant to happen during shutdowns.
Tokyo Electric didn't report the accident because it wasn't required under the law at that time. The company found more than 200 cases of data falsifications at its three atomic power stations, the company said on March 1.
The company is seeking to make full disclosure by March 30 and drafting measures to prevent any recurrence of the previous incidents, Katsumata said today.
``We're very sorry for the recent series of improper handlings at power plants,'' he said. ``We will make a maximum effort to restore public confidence and gain understanding.''
Fukushima prefecture hosts 10 of Tokyo Electric's 17 reactors. The safety breaches may make it harder for Tokyo Electric to gain support from Fukushima prefecture to build two more reactors there.
``With the recent incidents, utilities need to put more effort into persuading local people'' that nuclear power is safe, Toshinori Ito, a senior energy analyst at UBS Securities Japan Ltd., said by phone. ``Approvals from municipalities are the top priority for the nuclear power industry.''
`Nuclear Country'
Tokyo Electric operates about a third of Japan's total nuclear capacity. The reactors are at three nuclear power stations: the Fukushima-Daiichi and Fukushima-Daini plants in Fukushima prefecture, north of Tokyo, and Kashiwazaki Kariwa in the central Niigata prefecture.
``Japan is a country without resources, so nuclear power is extremely important,'' said Fujio Mitarai, chairman of Keidanren, a lobby group for the country's biggest companies. ``It's a very important industry, so they absolutely must do everything possible to ensure safety and win back public trust.''
Japan wants to increase the share of atomic energy in electricity generation to 40 percent by 2030. Today, Japan's 55 reactors generate about 30 percent of the total.
By March 2016, nine more reactors are scheduled to be built in Japan, with one to shut, boosting the total to 63 with a capacity of 61.5 million kilowatts, from 49.6 million today, the trade ministry said in March of last year.
To promote nuclear energy, Trade Minister Akira last year ordered utilities to investigate and reveal all past cases of fabrication and improper operations at nuclear power plants by the end of March.
``This is a process to squeeze all the pus piled up in the past and to make Japan's atomic industry the safest and most reliable in the world,'' Amari said on March 23.
