Chubu Electric President Resigns over Hamaoka Data Scandal

Chubu Electric Power Co. President Kingo Hayashi intends to resign following a confirmed scandal involving the manipulation of seismic data at the Hamaoka nuclear power plant. Sources close to the matter indicate that Hayashi will step down as the company prepares to withdraw its applications for restarting units three and four. This decision marks a significant reversal in the utility's strategy to secure new baseload generation capacity in a resource-poor market.

Chairman Satoru Katsuno is also expected to resign, having informed close associates of his plan to step down. The leadership exodus follows the receipt of an investigation report confirming that favorable ground-motion data was cherry-picked when setting earthquake-resistant standards for the two reactors. The utility is scheduled to hold a press conference in Nagoya on Monday to detail the findings and outline its corporate response to the integrity breach.

Seismic Data Manipulation Confirmed

Chubu Electric admitted earlier in the year that it selected favorable seismic ground-motion data to justify the safety of the Hamaoka units. This practice was central to the safety screening process required for reactor restarts. The recent investigation report validated these allegations, leading directly to the decision to abandon the decade-long effort to return these specific units to the grid.

The withdrawal of the safety screening applications for units three and four is a rare move for a Japanese utility. The company had invested more than ten years in the regulatory and technical processes necessary to restart these reactors. By withdrawing, Chubu Electric effectively concedes that its previous safety assessments were fundamentally flawed due to the biased data selection.

Broader Corporate Integrity Issues

The seismic data scandal is part of a broader pattern of compliance failures at the utility. In August, the company disclosed document falsification related to cost claims for the decommissioning of units one and two at the Hamaoka plant. Additionally, regulators identified instances of overcharging customers for electricity services. These compounding issues have eroded stakeholder confidence and highlighted systemic weaknesses in the company’s internal controls.

The resignation of the top executive and chairman signals a need for structural change within the organization. The utility must now address the financial and operational implications of losing the Hamaoka restarts while simultaneously managing the fallout from the document fraud and billing irregularities. This multi-front crisis poses a significant challenge to Chubu Electric’s operational stability and market reputation.

Operational Impact and Future Strategy

The loss of the Hamaoka units three and four restarts reduces the available nuclear capacity in the Chubu region. This forces the utility to rely more heavily on alternative power sources, potentially increasing procurement costs and affecting competitive positioning. The company must now reassess its long-term energy mix and investment plans in the absence of these key assets.

According to reports from Kyodo News, the leadership changes are a direct response to the severity of the data rigging. The utility is expected to overhaul its governance and compliance frameworks to prevent similar incidents. The focus will shift from aggressive expansion of nuclear assets to restoring regulatory trust and ensuring the integrity of all technical submissions going forward.