September 17 2002
Tokyo --- Since late May 2002, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) has been conducting
thorough internal investigations into the alleged concealment of cracks and the
falsification of inspection and maintenance records at TEPCO's nuclear power plants.
The investigation started after GE reported the inappropriate conducts, and has been
carried out under the Internal Investigative Committee headed by Mr. Tsunehisa
Katsumata, Executive Vice President.
TEPCO today submitted a report on the investigation to the Nuclear and Industrial
Safety Agency in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and to local
governments in the vicinity of the nuclear power stations. A summary of the report
is as follows:
TEPCO would like to express our sincere apologies for damaging public confidence in
the company and causing any concern to those in the vicinity of the nuclear power
stations, as well as to all the parties involved.
TEPCO will make every effort to prevent a recurrence by enhancing transparency and
public information disclosure, and restoring confidence in the company and in
nuclear power.
Summary of the report
The report explains what actually took place during the inspection and maintenance
work, the background and motives for the misconduct, where the responsibility lies,
and how a recurrence can be prevented.
TEPCO heard from GE concerning its investigation results, and conducted a thorough
examination of GE's documents written in English. At the same time, TEPCO
investigated its own documents, which were kept at its head office and at each
nuclear power plant, and compared them to GE's documents. TEPCO also interviewed
about 70 people involved, including approximately 50 of its own employees.
Out of 29 cases, 16 cases were found to be inappropriate. It was however confirmed
that there was no safety problem with those cases.
TEPCO admits in the report that there has been systematic and inappropriate
management of nuclear power inspections and repair work for a long time. The report
points out that the employees in charge of the maintenance work could not help but
follow such precedents in their organization, even if they felt that something was
wrong. It is not necessarily appropriate that individuals who were in charge of the
work are to blame. TEPCO therefore concludes that the responsibility lies with the
nuclear power stations as a whole, and with the nuclear power sections of the head
office, and, finally, the top management of these sections.
The report also addresses the motives and background to the misconduct. For
employees in charge of the inspection and maintenance work, the most important
concern was to complete periodical inspections and to bring their own generating
plants back on line as scheduled. They had a strong sense of responsibility in that
regard. Top management in the nuclear departments also had the same strong sense of
responsibility. Those concerns fostered the mistaken idea in all the maintenance
sections that they did not have to report problems to the regulator and local
governments in the vicinity of the nuclear power stations as long as they did not
cause any safety problems.
TEPCO is also committed in the report to the following four measures to prevent a
recurrence:
1.To improve transparency and the disclosure of public information
2.To create an environment for conducting appropriate business activities
3.To conduct more stringent internal audits and to reform the corporate culture
4.To thoroughly comply with corporate ethics
Appendix 1:Outline of related events
Appendix 2:Cases where inappropriate actions were/were not identified
Appendix 3:Motives and background to problems with maintenance work at nuclear
power plants
Appendix 4:Preventive Measures
Appendix 5:Actions taken in personnel affairs
Appendix 6:Glossary
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