Scores of ex-bureaucrats landed cushy jobs at TEPCO, linked to lax nuclear safety rules

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) had more than 50 retired bureaucrats working for the utility firm as of the end of August — a widespread practice in Japan called “amakudari,” or “descent from heaven” — the Mainichi has learned, and former bureaucrats acknowledged that cozy ties between the government and utility firms were a key factor behind the country’s lax rules governing nuclear power generation.

There were 47 former bureaucrats from the central government working at TEPCO as “temporary employees” as of the end of August, and there were more than 50 such “amakudari” employees if posts of “advisors” filled by former vice ministers were included, the Mainichi has learned.

The former bureaucrats came from various government ministries and agencies including the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, which is in charge of overseeing the nuclear industry, the Foreign Ministry, the Finance Ministry, the National Police Agency, and the Japan Coast Guard. Experts attribute the outbreak of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant partly to flaws in safety regulations, and a former bureaucrat who used to be engaged in atomic energy administration said, “The cozy ties (between the government and utility firms) led to lax safety regulations.”

TEPCO held its shareholders meeting at a hotel in Tokyo’s Minato Ward on June 28. Many shareholders who had suffered losses on the utility’s stock plunge pressed the company executives to explain why the company continued to accept “wasteful” amakudari. In his reply, TEPCO Vice President Masao Yamazaki said, “The electric power business requires people with (various) knowledge.” Yamazaki’s remarks clearly show the characteristics of the electric power company that was not able to do away with amakudari even when the company was in jeopardy due to massive compensation claims for damage.

The post of vice president is the highest position at TEPCO a former career bureaucrat from the industry ministry can hold. The post was filled initially by former vice industry minister Takeo Ishihara, and former directors-general and deputy directors-general of the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy in about 10-year intervals. In January this year, Toru Ishida, who resigned as director-general of the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy in August last year, became an advisor for TEPCO. A senior TEPCO official said, “We planned to promote him to the post of vice president in accordance with customary practice.” But because it ran counter to the rule against landing a new job in an industry they once supervised within two years after retirement and the government came under fire for the nuclear crisis, he had to resign from the post of advisor in April. The industry ministry has helped about five former senior officials assume posts of directors and advisors at other utility firms including Kansai Electric Power Co. (KEPCO).

Unlike electric power suppliers that enjoy regional monopoly, there is no room for ordinary private companies to accept so many former bureaucrats from government ministries and agencies. A senior government official said companies like TEPCO were the biggest entities where bureaucrats could land new jobs after retirement.

According to people related to TEPCO, career bureaucrats can get the position of “advisor” while non-career bureaucrats can get “temporary” jobs. There is an unwritten rule that their salaries do not fall below what they last received before their retirement, said a former industry ministry official.

TEPCO explains that amakudari is useful for its management as former officials from the National Police Agency and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, for example, help with plans t
set up power facilities. But in the case of former bureaucrats from the Finance Ministry and the Foreign Ministry, there are many cases of them staying with TEPCO only temporarily and doing nothing but collect their monthly salaries before finding favored jobs elsewhere, according to a person related to TEPCO.

The cozy ties between utility firms and the government through amakudari also cast a shadow over the administration of the country’s nuclear energy policy. Using the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear crisis as a lesson, the governments of the United States and European countries strictly required operators of nuclear power plants to work out effective measures against natural disasters including earthquakes and severe accidents such as reactor meltdowns. But in Japan, the government effectively gave utility firms a free hand, paving the way for the power companies to take sloppy measures seen in the case of the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, which lost power when it was hit by tsunami.

A former head of the government’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said, “There were people who insisted on introducing regulations on par with U.S. and European counterparts, but they were overpowered by utility companies that argued against shouldering the extra costs.” A former nuclear plant inspector said, “It is natural that government officials should come under unspoken pressure if a career bureaucrat, their boss, is being taken care of at a utility firm after retirement.”

Mainichi Shimbun , September 27, 2011
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/national/archive/news/2011/09/27/20110927p2a00m0na006000c.html

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 Nuke advocacy stand-ins took in seven events: probe

An independent committee set up by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry submitted a final report Friday concluding that the government asked utility officials to attend state-hosted symposiums on nuclear power on seven occassions in a bid to talk up official atomic power goals.

The committee, headed by Takashi Oizumi, a former head of the Osaka High Public Prosecutor’s Office, said officials of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, which is under the nuclear power-promoting METI, and the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy were involved in the apparent surreptitious talk-ups. The report lashed out at their poor governance and NISA’s failure to play a neutral role as a nuclear watchdog.

The committee claimed the fixes were based on the officials’ individual judgment, denying any organizational involvement.

Of 41 probed cases, government involvement was confirmed on seven occasions Å\ the symposiums on the use of plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel for the Genkai plant in Saga Prefecture in 2005, the Ikata plant in Ehime Prefecture in 2006, the Hamaoka plant in Shizuoka Prefecture in 2007 and the Tomari plant in 2008, as well as three explanatory sessions looking into the quake resistance of the Onagawa plant in Miyagi Prefecture in 2006.

By KAZUAKI NAGATA, Japan Times Staff Writer, October 1, 2011
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20111001a7.html

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 TEPCO secretly bought tickets to political fund-raisers

Despite refraining from making political donations since 1974, Tokyo Electric Power Co. spent more than 50 million yen ($650,000) a year on tickets to politicians’ fund-raising parties for several years through 2009.

TEPCO limited each purchase to 200,000 yen or less so that it would not have to appear on politicians’ political fund reports, according to sources.

“It is important to keep friendly relations with politicians, particularly those in power, on a regular basis to maintain the general trend of promoting nuclear power policy,” a senior TEPCO official said.

TEPCO, which appears to have bought tickets for many years before 2009, spent more than 50 million yen annually for several years through 2009, with the amount reaching about 100 million yen at least in one year.

The tickets for fund-raising parties and study meetings were bought annually for more than 50 politicians it ranked based on their importance in nuclear power policies and cooperation in electricity-related policies.

Lawmakers elected from Aomori, Fukushima and Niigata prefectures where TEPCO operates or is building nuclear power plants and those who served as minister of economy, trade and industry or their deputies were ranked high.

Until the change in government in 2009, TEPCO spent about 10 times more on party tickets for then ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers than for Democratic Party of Japan lawmakers. The company continued to buy tickets in 2010, increasing the amount for DPJ lawmakers.

TEPCO spent 200,000 yen for high-ranking lawmakers and also bought tickets for the same politicians several times. Politicians are not required to enter the company that bought party tickets into their political fund reports if each purchase is 200,000 yen or less.

TEPCO has publicly refrained from political donations since 1974, saying they are contrary to a public utility granted a regional monopoly in electricity supply.

An official at TEPCO’s public relations department said paying for party tickets does not conflict with the company’s refraining from political donations.

“Ticket purchases are not political donations because they are payments for food and drinks,” said the official, who declined to disclose details of purchases.

The parties and study meetings were organized by lawmakers’ political organizations and fund management organizations.

By Takashi Ichida and Kamome Fujimori, Asahi Shimbun, October 4, 2011
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201110030292.html

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 Industry ministry underreported opponents to reactivation of nuclear plant in Kyushu

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) is suspected of underreporting the number of people who were opposed to the reactivation of the Genkai Nuclear Power Plant in Saga Prefecture, sources close to the case said on Sept. 28.

If about 100 respondents to an Internet broadcast survey who were excluded from counting because their responses were sent after the deadline were included, the total number against would far outnumbered those who were in favor of reactivating the plant.

Moreover, one of the online responses pointed to the possibility that Kyushu Electric Power Co., the operator of the plant, instructed employees as well as subsidiaries to send opinions to the program to express support for reactivation in an apparent attempt to manipulate public opinion, but the ministry failed to act on the claims.

METI’s Agency for Natural Resources and Energy denied that it attempted to decrease the ratio of those against reactivation.

“We stopped accepting opinions during the broadcast, calculated them and released the results during the program. We never tried to make it look as though those who were opposed to the resumption of operations at the plant outnumbered those who were in favor by a smaller margin,” said an official with the agency’s public relations division.

METI had announced that 589 messages were sent from viewers to the program broadcast online on June 26 — 286 expressing support for the resumption of operations at the plant and 163 against reactivation.

Of the messages in support of the resumption, 141 messages subsequently turned out to have been sent by Kyushu Electric insiders. After these messages are excluded, messages against reactivation slightly outnumbered those in favor.

If about 100 messages sent to the broadcaster after the deadline were included, the ratio of those opposed to reactivation becomes larger, according to the sources.

Mainichi Shimbun , September 28, 2011
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/national/archive/news/2011/09/28/20110928p2a00m0na016000c.html

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