Japan mulls criminal penalties for N-plant data fraud

The plan is being considered following earthquake risk data fraud by Chubu Electric Power Co. over its Hamaoka nuclear power plant in Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan.

Specifically, the NRA is expected to add a provision to the nuclear reactor regulation law to impose criminal penalties for false statements in safety screening applications.

After the NRA learned of the issue through an external tip-off in February last year, Chubu Electric announced the misconduct in January this year.

Chubu Electric is now suspected of underestimating the seismic ground motions that the Hamaoka plant could experience while adopting a method different from that explained to the NRA.

According to the NRA's secretariat, the proposed law amendment would enable the agency to file criminal complaints with investigative authorities if safety screening applications contain any falsification, taking into account the malicious nature of the misconduct.

The NRA hopes that a bill to revise the law will be submitted during next year's ordinary session of the Diet, the country's parliament.

The secretariat is now investigating Chubu Electric to determine whether multiple departments and senior management were involved, as well as the motives behind the misconduct.