Widening scandal at Japan's Kyushu nuclear firm

BBC News, 12 July 2011

Japan quake 

• Japan minister quits after a week
• Life on edge of exclusion zone
• Moment tsunami hit Fukushima
• Viewpoint: Tepco's options

Dozens of workers at Japan's Kyushu Electric Company posed as citizens and lobbied for a power plant to be reopened, an internal inquiry says.

The Kyushu e-mail scandal sparked protests last week

A whistleblower last week revealed that some 50 workers had sent e-mails to a televised debate backing a plan to restart Kyushu's Genkai plant.

But the firm's internal inquiry has found more than 100 employees may have been involved.

Two-thirds of Japan's 54 reactors have been idle since the 11 March quake.

The 9.0-magnitude tremor, and the massive tsunami it triggered, wrecked the Fukushima Daiichi plant and sparked a review of the country's nuclear industry.

All the nuclear plants that were closed for routine inspections were ordered to stay closed until their safety could be guaranteed.

The plant at Genkai, in the south, was one of the first plants scheduled to be reopened.

But the government's announcement last week of more rigorous tests across the board scuppered the firm's attempts to have the reactors restarted.

Nuclear crisis

• 11 Mar: Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant struck by huge earthquake and tsunami
• 16 Mar: 20km (11-mile) evacuation zone declared around plant
• 17 Apr: Plant owner Tepco says crisis will be under control by end of the year
• 20 May: Tepco President Masataka Shimizu resigns as firm posts losses of 1.25tn yen (£9.4bn; $15.3bn) for the past financial year
• 2 Jun: Naoto Kan survives no-confidence vote over his handling of quake and nuclear crises
• A Kyushu employee told Japanese media how senior officials asked about 50 subordinates to send supportive messages to a televised meeting hosted by the government.

Popularity slump

The e-mail scandal has dealt a further blow to Kyushu Electric, and the firm's boss made a public apology last week.

But on Tuesday, sources at the firm revealed that more Kyushu offices had been involved in the lobbying.

National public broadcaster NHK reported that the messages from Kyushu employees accounted for more than 30% of all messages sent in support of the Genkai plant being reopened.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Naoto Kan has announced that Japan needs to rethink its commitment to nuclear energy.

Before the Fukushima crisis, the country had targeted 53% of its electricity supply to be nuclear by 2030.

But Mr Kan said this commitment should be scrapped, and the reliance on nuclear power must be reduced.

The prime minister, who has been under immense pressure to resign, has slumped to his lowest level of popularity since he took office just over a year ago.

According to the latest opinion polls, just 16% of the population believe he is doing a good job.

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