Japan's TEPCO Chief to Quit over Nuke Plant Cover-up

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, September 02, 2002

Japan's TEPCO Chief to Quit over Nuke Plant Cover-up

The president and chairman of Japan's Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) will resign over the cover-ups of damage at the utility's nuclear power plants, Japan's Kyodo News reported.

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The president and chairman of Japan's Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) will resign over the cover-ups of damage at the utility's nuclear power plants, Japan's Kyodo News reported.

TEPCO President Nobuya and Chairman Hirosh Araki will step down together with other three top management personnel in later September, the company said.

Minami will also resign from all public posts, including chairman of the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan and deputy leader of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai), it said.

Minami admitted his company's employees were indeed involved in the cover-ups, adding TEPCO will announce a set of measures to punish those responsible after its full internal investigations are completed.

The cover-up scandal surfaced last week, with allegations of at least 29 cases of falsified reports on cracks or signs of cracks in devices in the core structure of 13 reactors at the company's nuclear power plants in Niigata Prefecture and Fukushima Prefecture.

TEPCO employees in the 1980s and 1990s at three nuclear power plants at the center of the scandal have told internal investigators that they instructed technicians contracted from outside to falsify reports to the authorities, according to Kyodo.

About 100 TEPCO employees may have been involved in the cover-ups for more than 10 years, Kyodo reported.

Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, operating under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, began on-the-spot inspections at three nuclear power plants of TEPCO Monday afternoon.

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