Two senior executives at the Japanese Chubu Electric Power Company resigned on Monday, due to a scandal related to the manipulation of seismic risk data at the Hamaoka nuclear plant, while the company announced that it was abandoning plans to restart two reactors at the plant.
The company said that President Kengo Hayashi and Chairman of the Board of Directors Satoru Katsuno will leave their positions, and that it will withdraw requests submitted to restart the two reactors, in a development that comes at a time when Japan seeks to revitalize the nuclear energy sector 15 years after the Fukushima disaster.
The Hamaoka station, located in central Japan, is undergoing safety regulatory reviews in preparation for restarting two reactors. But Chubu admitted in January that it had submitted to regulators data that underestimated earthquake risks.
Hayashi said in a press conference that he feels “the weight of responsibility and great remorse,” expressing his regret for his inability to establish an institutional culture that gives priority to compliance and safety.
A 250-page report prepared by an independent committee, published on Monday, revealed that the pressure exerted by management on employees due to the delay in reviewing restart procedures was one of the factors that contributed to the violations.
The issue gains special sensitivity given the location of the Hamaoka station in the city of Omaizaki, Shizuoka Prefecture, near a seismic zone that experts expect to witness a huge earthquake in the Pacific Ocean in the coming years or decades.
Estimates of the maximum ground movement during earthquakes are an essential element in designing nuclear facilities and determining their ability to resist strong tremors.
In September 2023, the Japanese Nuclear Regulatory Authority approved estimates submitted by Chubu that set the maximum seismic movement at 1,200 gal, a unit used to measure acceleration. But the authority later received information from a whistleblower indicating possible data manipulation, before in December it suspended a safety review of the plant.
The issue brings to the forefront the safety issue of Japanese nuclear plants, which has been subject to intense scrutiny since the earthquake and tsunami that struck the country in March 2011, and led to the meltdown of reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
Tokyo is currently seeking to increase reliance on nuclear energy in light of the country's lack of significant natural resources and its dependence on fossil fuel imports. Japan also aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, coinciding with the expectation that electricity consumption will increase as a result of the expansion of data centers and artificial intelligence technologies.
On the other hand, the CEO of the Insurance Authority, Engineer Naji Al-Tamimi, said that the capital of the insurance sector in the Kingdom rose to 36 billion riyals ($9.6 billion), compared to 25 billion riyals ($6.7 billion) a few years ago, indicating that the Authority aims to reach 50 billion riyals ($13.3 billion), in parallel with the goals of the National Insurance Strategy aimed at doubling the size of the market.
Al-Tamimi stated during a session at the “Money20/20” conference on Monday in Riyadh that the Authority is witnessing a demand from insurance and reinsurance companies to enter the Saudi market, explaining that during the current quarter it granted two licenses to two new reinsurance companies, in addition to a license for an insurance company.
He added that the Authority expects to grant two additional reinsurance licenses, and perhaps two licenses to other insurance companies, during the next quarter, indicating that it is reviewing more applications and expects a larger number of players to enter the market in the coming months.
Naji explained that the establishment of the Authority about three years ago came in light of the major transformations witnessed by the Saudi economy and business sector, including major and giant projects, attracting advanced competencies and expertise, in addition to the increase in the number of visitors and tourists, and the resulting change in the nature of risks and market needs.
He stressed that technology lies at the heart of the strategy, pointing out that the authority’s role is not limited to oversight and supervision, but rather extends to developing the market, empowering the sector, and providing solutions that support the economy and society.
Al-Tamimi said that the Authority began operating the first phase of the “data center” about two years ago, which links insurance companies’ databases to the Authority’s system, using data change capture (CDC) technology, which allows monitoring changes in companies’ databases and making them immediately available within the system.
In the field of innovation, Al Tamimi said that the Authority recently launched the Innovation Lab “iLab”, which allows innovators, entrepreneurs and investors to test their solutions and innovations, in parallel with the “experimental legislative environment” that provides a safe regulatory framework for testing solutions before they expand.
