Japan: World's biggest nuclear plant likely to stay closed as employee leaves papers on car roof

Last week, Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority decided to keep a de facto ban on the power station from resuming operations, saying that the utility’s preventative measures are inadequate. 

A careless employee working from home added to the company's problems a week after Japanese authorities delayed the reopening of the largest nuclear power plant in the world due to safety issues. 

According to various reports, Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Japan's Niigata prefecture said an employee placed a stack of documents on top of a car before driving off and losing them. 

This is the recent in a spate of errors made by the company and is probably going to further reduce the regulator's trust in Tepco.

Japan has been unable to restart most of its nuclear reactors that were shut down in the aftermath of the Fukushima accident in 2011, due to safety breaches and a stringent regulatory procedure. 

Last week, Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority decided to keep a de facto ban on the power station from resuming operations, saying that the utility’s preventative measures are inadequate. 

Some of the papers were recovered by a local resident, Tepco said, adding that 38 pages were still unaccounted for. Tepco said it has warned its staff and management and will make sure all employees follow stringent rules on taking documents and information off-site.