Japan Atomic Power Co.'s Tsuruga nuclear power plant is seen in Tsuruga, Fukui prefecture, July 2, 2011. (Xinhua)
TOKYO, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) said on Wednesday it will resume its safety assessment of a reactor at the Tsuruga nuclear power plant in central Japan after a suspension over rewritten geological data.
The nuclear watchdog said at a meeting that it could not find intentional tampering with the data submitted by the operator Japan Atomic Power Co. and decided to resume the assessment, which is necessary for restarting the No. 2 reactor at the Tsuruga nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture.
The NRA had halted the assessment after Japan Atomic Power Co. was found to have rewritten a geological diagram without approval in February 2020 in analyzing a drilling survey conducted on an area below the Tsuruga complex premises.
The alterations involved geological data which are crucial in determining whether the fault running underneath the facility is active or not.
In quake-prone Japan, building nuclear plants or other important facilities directly above active faults is prohibited.■
