The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) decided Wednesday that its secretariat will conduct an on-site inspection of Chubu Electric Power over the company¡¯s data fraud regarding earthquake risks at its Hamaoka nuclear power plant.

The inspection is expected to target Chubu Electric¡¯s headquarters in Nagoya. The power plant located in Shizuoka Prefecture may be subject to the probe if necessary.

In the wake of the data sandal, the nuclear watchdog also approved the scrapping of its screening of the power plant for a possible restart.

In addition, the NRA will issue an order for Chubu Electric to report back on the details of the data fraud under the nuclear reactor regulation law, with the deadline set for the end of March. The company will face punishment if it refuses the order or makes false statements.

The authority plans to urge other power companies to prepare appropriate documents for the NRA¡¯s reactor screenings.

At his regular news conference on Jan. 7, NRA chief Shinsuke Yamanaka said the watchdog¡¯s secretariat should conduct an on-site probe into Chubu Electric. He also expressed a need for the screening of the Hamaoka plant to be redone.

According to Chubu Electric, it had explained to the NRA that it adopted a method in which the average value of multiple seismic waves calculated under different conditions is taken as the representative wave for the authority¡¯s screening of the Hamaoka plant.

The company, however, used a different method in and before 2018 to pick the representative wave, and intentionally designated a seismic wave different from the average value as the representative wave from around 2018.

Chubu Electric may have underestimated the seismic ground motions that the plant could experience.

A whistleblower informed the NRA of the issue in February last year. Chubu Electric admitted its wrongdoing last month and made it public on Jan. 5 this year.