Kyushu Electric Power Co. last Wednesday admitted there was an orchestrated effort to send a broadcaster a large number of emails in support of restarting the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors of its Genkai Nuclear Power Plant in Saga Prefecture. On June 26 the broadcaster aired a program on the subject over cable TV and the Internet.
The incident would seem to support suspicions that the power industry is more interested in manipulating public opinion than in accurately explaining the safety problems of nuclear power plants.
The utility's executive vice president, Mamoru Dangami, who retired from the post at the end of June, told Mr. Akira Nakamura, then head of the utility's nuclear power control department, to make efforts to enliven discussions in the program.