A Japanese nuclear plant operator admits employees may have cherry-picked quake data to pass safety tests.

Axar.az informs Chubu Electric Power’s Hamaoka plant, situated in a region at risk of a potential “megaquake,” is undergoing regulatory safety inspections as it prepares to restart two reactors.

But the company’s president said on Monday that the estimated maximum seismic ground motion that the plant could experience during a quake “may have been underestimated.”

The Nuclear Regulation Authority said the same day it found "wrongdoing" by Chubu Electric Power Co. in the screening process and halted the review.

According to the NRA, a whistleblower contacted the watchdog in February last year about the matter.

Japan, which abandoned nuclear power after the 2011 Fukushima disaster, now seeks to revive it to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, and meet rising energy demands driven by artificial intelligence.