Officials of two government agencies were found to have taken inappropriate action in seven instances in an attempt to influence public opinion on nuclear energy, according to the results of an investigation released on Sept. 30.
Officials of two government agencies were found to have taken inappropriate action in seven instances in an attempt to influence public opinion on nuclear energy, according to the results of an investigation released on Sept. 30.
The investigating panel found that officials of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) as well as the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy instructed electric power companies to have their employees attend symposiums and other events related to nuclear energy. They also encouraged local residents to state opinions in favor of nuclear energy at such gatherings.
The investigative committee looked into 41 events over the past five years in which the central government played an organizing role.
Panel members questioned 148 individuals from the NISA and the energy agency, as well as from electric power companies.
In the panel's final report submitted to Yukio Edano, economy, trade and industry minister, nine cases were classified as possible cases in which central government agency officials intervened to hamper fairness and transparency. The panel looked further into those nine cases and determined that there were inappropriate acts taken by agency officials in seven cases.
The panel did not find specific instructions from high-ranking officials of the two agencies and said lower-level officials in charge of public relations were the ones involved.
However, the panel stated in its report that the failure of high-ranking officials to recognize the inappropriate action taken by agency officials "led to deep distrust in nuclear energy administration."
Among the reasons given for the actions taken by agency officials were "an emphasis on concluding the symposiums successfully without confusion, rather than achieving the true objective of increasing understanding among local residents," and "the collusive relationship between electric power companies and central government agencies."
The report pointed out that "there was very weak recognition at the NISA and the energy agency that fairness and transparency were indispensable in nuclear energy administration. The agencies must undertake immediate reform, including improving the awareness and atmosphere within their organizations."
Meanwhile, a separate committee looking into attempts by Kyushu Electric Power Co. to influence public opinion found that top executives of the public utility tried to cover up the involvement of high-ranking Saga prefectural government officials.
Saga Governor Yasushi Furukawa on Sept. 30 continued to deny that he asked Kyushu Electric executives to have employees send out e-mail messages to influence public opinion on nuclear energy.
The committee found close cooperation between officials of Kyushu Electric and the Saga prefectural government in relation to a public debate sponsored by the prefectural government in December 2005 on plans to use plutonium extracted from spent nuclear fuel at the Genkai nuclear power plant.