Nishimatsu Construction Co. in 2001 had a dummy company buy a plot of land in Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, that was a candidate site for a planned nuclear waste storage facility in an attempt to win a contract to build the planned facility, according to sources.
A source close to Nishimatsu said the deal was apparently aimed at giving Nishimatsu an advantage in winning the contract while keeping itself in the background.
Nishimatsu's public relations official declined to comment on the matter.
The deal was carried out after a senior official of Nishimatsu's Tohoku bureau consulted both a former construction company executive and a former secretary to an Upper House member, according to the sources and internal documents.
A Tokyo building materials sales company bought the 4 hectares of land in Mutsu in January 2001, the sources said.
An acquaintance of the former secretary was a board member at the building materials firm, they said.
A Tokyo real estate company, where a former Nishimatsu official was an executive, actually paid for the land, pretending to have extended a ¥50 million loan to the building materials firm, they said.
Construction of the facility is expected to begin in April with operations scheduled to start in December 2010.
Reactor halted
SHIZUOKA (Kyodo) Chubu Electric Power Co. said Tuesday it suspended the operation of the No. 5 reactor at its Hamaoka nuclear power plant in Shizuoka Prefecture following a rise in hydrogen concentration in an off-gas treatment system.
The incident will have no effect on the environment, the utility said.
The reactor was halted in early November due to the same problem and resumed operations only Saturday.