The Saga Prefectural Government indicated Tuesday it was aware that Kyushu Electric Power Co. encouraged its employees to speak out in support of a planned plutonium-thermal power generation project at the Genkai nuclear power plant during a public forum in 2005.
In a report submitted to the prefectural assembly, the government said it was aware that Kyushu Electric had prepared arguments in favor of the "pluthermal" project, effectively admitting it had accepted the utility's attempt to manipulate the prefecture-sponsored forum.
The report, however, denied that Saga Gov. Yasushi Furukawa was involved. Furukawa told a news conference he will take a pay cut over the matter and apologized for the prefectural government's failure to stop Kyushu Electric. He also denied again that he was actively involved.
"It's not that I requested or directed" the utility to prepare its arguments, Furukawa said.