Japan minister denies TEPCO to restart reactor
Date: 11-Sep-02
Country: JAPAN
The daily Asahi Shimbun said Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) had started negotiations with government nuclear safety officials about restarting one of two reactors that had been closed, arguing that it posed no immediate safety problem.
"The newspaper article said TEPCO had started negotiations with the ministry's safety agency to restart the nuclear power plant but that is false," Minister of Trade, Economy and Industry Takeo Hiranuma told a news conference.
A company spokesman said no decision would be taken until Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency officials had completed an enquiry, which may take several weeks.
"A course of action will be decided after the investigation is complete," the TEPCO spokesman said. "We are not in a position to comment on details at present."
Late last month TEPCO said it had covered up the existence of cracks at several of its nuclear plants and local media have said the falsification of repair records was probably instigated by senior management.
Last week several top executives announced they would resign to take responsibility for the cover-up, which is thought to have begun in the late 1980s.
