TOKYO (XFN-ASIA) – Tokyo Electric Power Co Inc (TEPCO) concealed a faulty pump designed to cool the reactor core in case of an emergency at one of its nuclear power plants in order to pass a government inspection, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported.

The newspaper, citing a report submitted to he Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, said that a motor that drives the emergency core cooling system at TEPCO’s Niigata plant failed a day before a regular inspection in May 1992.

But the company passed the inspection by taking steps to make sure that the government inspectors did not notice the malfunction, such as by turning on a light that indicates that the system is operating normally.

There have been 199 cases in which data was altered at three nuclear power plants in order pass regular inspections, the Nikkei said.

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yasuhiko.seki@xfn.com