False Report on Decommissioning in Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant

Chubu Electric Power (CEP) announced on August 27th that it had made false reports on their decommissioning of two used reactors in its Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant. It fabricated the data of decommissioning to pretend that they were making progress along with its plan, in which the process would be finished by the first half of 2040s. Other false managements had been revealed in the Hamaoka plant. The consecutive scandals erode confidence on nuclear power generation. 

The reactor #1 of Hamaoka plant started its operation in 1976 and the #2 in 1978. Those two reactors finished its operation in 2009 and entered the process of decommissioning. CEP made a plan to decommission them by the first half of 2040s. The process for decommissioning has four phases. They are in the third phase from 2024.

 

While power companies in Japan had been reserving fund for decommissioning, the system was changed in 2024. Each company deposited its fund to a governmental authority named Nuclear Reprocessing and Decommissioning Facilitation　Organization (NuRO) from 2024. Each company would report how much it costed in the process of decommissioning to NuRO and be refunded for the spendings.

 

CEP had fabricated the report to NuRO in fiscal year 2024. There were fourteen documents submitted to NuRO with wrong date, wrong device used or wrong amount of decommissioning. CEP received 1.1 billion yen from NuRO in FY2024, but 800 million yen out of the 1.1 billion yen was falsely reported cost.

 

CEP has not admitted that the fabrication was made for receiving more fund from NuRO than it actually spent. The company requested less fund than it actually spent. CEP explained that the false reporting was made with intention to make the decommission process look like catching up with the plan, and stressed that the false report would not affect safety of nuclear power plant.

 

However, business of nuclear power generation fundamentally needs public trust. Before the severe accident in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in 2011, nuclear power generation had been announced as safe and clear in Japan. The accident generated deep skepticisms among the people in Japan. Nevertheless, CEP intentionally fabricated documents in a cherry-picking manner. Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry ordered CEP to submit a report about the details of the false report by September 25th.

 

It is not the first time for CEP to exericise wrong management of nuclear power plant in Hamaoka. In November 2025, it was found that CEP had been making inappropriate contracts on safety measures between 2013 and 2019. CEP had not paid necessary cost for them, which would amount to billions of yen. A vice-president resigned with this scandal.

 

In January 2026, it was reported that CEP had fabricated data on possible seismic power of future earthquake which was underestimated. The Nuclear Regulation Authority halted examination of reactors #3 and #4 in Hamaoka plant for resuming their operation. Fabrication is now considered as a corporate culture of CEP.

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