TOKYO, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- The president of a utility company that operates a nuclear power plant in western Japan on Monday apologized for a string of serious mishaps at the plant including a control rod being mistakenly removed from a reactor.
Keisuke Nagai, president of Shikoku Electric Power Company, offered his apologies to the governor of Ehime Prefecture, Tokihiro Nakamura, for the mishaps and vowed to get to the bottom of the causes.
All three nuclear reactors at the Ikata nuclear power plant lost power on Saturday, with one of the power outages occurring during the inspection of one of the reactors.
Prior to that, local residents were also alarmed earlier in January when a control rod, which suppresses nuclear fission, was removed from the plant's number 3 reactor by mistake.
Fears and mistrust have been rising among those residing near the plant, with Nakamura telling Nagai that "concerns and distrust of Shikoku Electric have risen to unprecedented levels."
Nakamura went on to say that Shikoku Electric should relocate the head of its nuclear energy department to the town of Ikata, so as to make information better available to concerned residents and in any event "take thorough measures" to ensure locals have all the information required.
The Shikoku Electric chief also said Monday that the utility will halt a planned appeal against a high court-issued injunction this month to suspend the faulty plant's number 3 reactor.
