Japan's government set up an independent panel to investigate alleged attempts by electricity companies and the industry regulator to influence public opinion on nuclear power.
Four legal experts will investigate the claims and recommend ways to prevent a recurrence, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in a statement on its website. The panel will hold its first meeting on August 9 and release an interim report at the end of this month, it said.
Chubu Electric Power Co., one of Japan's regional electricity monopolies, said last week the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency asked the utility to prepare questions favoring atomic power for a public hearing in 2007. METI Minister Banri Kaieda said yesterday he will resign after replacing three officials in charge of energy policy.
The panel members are Takashi Oizumi, a lawyer, Toshihiko Suzuki, a professor of law at Meiji Gakuin University, Kenji Hirose, a law professor at Rikkyo University, and Shunsuke Marushima, a lawyer, according to the statement.
Public opinion has been turning against atomic power after Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant was damaged in the March earthquake and tsunami, causing the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.
Kyushu Electric Power Co. last month said it asked staffers at affiliates to send e-mails supporting the restart of reactors to an internet-broadcast show run by METI on nuclear plant safety.
