Chubu Electric Chiefs Quit Over Nuclear Data Scandal

Two top executives at Japanese nuclear plant operator Chubu Electric Power resigned on Monday following a data-tampering scandal, and the company announced it will withdraw applications to restart two reactors at its Hamaoka plant. President Kingo Hayashi and Chairman Satoru Katsuno stepped down to take responsibility for the misconduct, the company said in a statement. The resignations and the decision to abandon the restart plans came after the release of a 250-page report by an independent panel. The report concluded that management pressure over delays in the restart review process was a contributing factor to the data falsification submitted to regulators. In January, Chubu Electric admitted it had submitted data to Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority that underestimated earthquake risks for the Hamaoka plant. The plant is located in Shizuoka prefecture, an area considered at high risk for a potential "megaquake" along the Nankai Trough seismic zone. The falsified data concerned the estimate of maximum seismic ground motion, a critical factor in the earthquake-resistant design of nuclear facilities.