Kyushu Electric head to decide whether to resign Mon. over scandal+

FUKUOKA, July 7 Kyodo -
(EDS: ADDING INFORMATION IN 8TH-11TH GRAFS)
Kyushu Electric Power Co. President Toshio Manabe said Thursday he will decide as early as Monday whether to resign over a scandal in which an employee tried to make locals look supportive of restarting the utility's nuclear reactors in a government-sponsored TV program on the issue.
''I cannot reach that decision by myself. After consulting with (company) Chairman Shingo Matsuo on (July) 11th, I will make a final decision,'' Manabe told Kyodo News.
Kyushu Electric acknowledged earlier this week that an employee sent e-mails late last month to other employees and subsidiaries, requesting they send comments to the program supportive of restarting two reactors of the Genkai power plant in Saga Prefecture.
Manabe said he is ultimately responsible for any actions by the company's employees. But he also indicated he could remain in his post, saying, ''It would be inappropriate to turn my back and run away from the resumption issue.''
The attempt to influence local opinion on the matter was denounced by the government the same day, although it remains unclear whether recipients of the e-mails acted on them.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano called the behavior ''really outrageous'' at a press conference in Tokyo, adding that the scandal will affect the resumption of operation of the two reactors.
Yuichiro Ito, governor of Kagoshima Prefecture where the utility's Sendai nuclear power plant is located, said in the prefectural capital of Kagoshima, ''(The incident) leads to a loss of the relationship of trust (with the utility).''
An internal investigation by Kyushu Electric has found that at least 2,300 of the roughly 4,400 employees at the four subsidiaries in question, including Nishinippon Plant Engineering and Construction Co. and Kyuden Sangyo Co., received the e-mail, according to sources familiar with the probe.
It is possible that more people gained access to the request because the e-mails might have been forwarded or printed. But a Kyushu Electric official said the company is not aware of how many people actually read them.
Kyushu Electric said a male employee at its nuclear power generation department sent the e-mails on June 22 to a nuclear-division employee at each of the four subsidiaries, who then transferred them to others within their respective companies.
On Thursday, Kyushu Electric did not reveal any details of the investigation, which it says will finish at date still to be decided.
The two reactors at the Genkai plant were initially expected to have resumed operation by now following regular checks. However, reactivation has been postponed following the nuclear crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima Daiichi power plant in the aftermath of the March massive earthquake and tsunami amid intensified public concerns about nuclear safety.
The June 26 program, broadcast live on cable TV and the Internet, was arranged by the government in an effort to win over local people to allow the reactors to be the first of dozens of suspended reactors in Japan to be reactivated after the nuclear accident.