Officials have halted the restart of a nuclear reactor after the operator was found to have tampered with data

Posted: 31st August 2021

Officials have halted the restart of a nuclear reactor after the operator was found to have tampered with data that revealed it was on an active seismic fault line. The No 2 unit of the Tsuruga plant in Fukui prefecture by the Sea of Japan was shut down along with the country’s other nuclear power plants in 2011 after the triple meltdowns at Fukushima. The reactor was undergoing a safety assessment under regulations introduced after the disaster, with the emphasis on any risks in an earthquake. In 2015 geologists concluded that the fault line under the plant was active after a drilling survey for the operator, Japan Atomic Power Company. This would prevent it coming back online. The company, which owns four reactors, two of which have been scrapped, is accused of falsifying data to make the danger seem less of a threat. It claims, however, that the change in the presentation of the data in February last year was unintentional and due to a new observation method.

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