In 2011, the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan led to the shutdown of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, the most powerful and largest in the world. The resumption of activities, much anticipated in the country, had been announced for the summer of 2023 after being postponed due to several incidents. But the recommissioning of the plant was again delayed for a surprising reason. An employee of the Tepco (Tokyo Electricity Company) company that operates the facility committed a negligent error that prompted authorities to precautionary block the process, BFMTV reports in a Bloomberg article on Tuesday, May 23, 2023.
Documents lost in nature
The employee in question was at home on the day of the incident and was working from home. After leaving home, he placed documents on the roof of his car, including information on how to deal with fires and floods at the plant. Then he got in the vehicle and forgot to retrieve her. The documents then blew up when he started.
The company was only made aware of the incident after contacting the authorities. A Niigata resident near the plant had reported the accidental discovery of pages from the famous documents on Tepco’s behalf. The national nuclear regulatory agency, which is responsible for overseeing the safety of the country’s reactors, found that the company’s preventive measures were insufficient and decided to halt the resumption of operation of the plant’s seven reactors.
The employee and his supervisor informed
Tepco, in turn, has warned both the employee and his manager and is still trying to get the 38 missing pages. The company has announced that it will ensure this from now on “that all employees adhere to strict rules for taking documents and information off-site.”