The central and prefectural governments on Wednesday briefed local residents on the quality control procedures for mixed oxide fuel to be used at a nuclear plant in Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture, following last year's scandal over the falsification of MOX fuel safety data.
Officials of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry and the Niigata Prefectural Government answered questions raised by residents before the expected start of MOX fuel use at the No. 3 reactor of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in 2001. The plant is operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co.
Yasuhito Harayama, head of the Nuclear Energy Industry Division of MITI's Natural Resources and Energy Agency, said: "Last year's data falsification of MOX fuel for Kansai Electric Power Co.'s Takahama nuclear plant caused concerns in various circles. We will conduct strict checks by introducing a new system."
In September and December last year, it was revealed that the British nuclear fuel firm that processed and shipped the fuel had falsified data on MOX fuel designated for reactors at the Takahama plant in Fukui Prefecture.