Japan’s nuclear plant will remain shut as a worker mislaid safety papers on car roof

Tokyo: The carelessness of an employee has made Japan’s nuclear regulator to further delay the restart of the world’s biggest nuclear plant.

The goof up by the employee comes a week after the regulator postponed the opening of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Japan's Niigata prefecture due to safety lapses, according to Bloomberg.

Tokyo Electric Power Co, which operates the nuclear power plant, reportedly said that one of its employees placed on top of a car a stack of paper related to safety protocols and drove off, losing them.

The mistake follows several previous ones, which have already dented regulator’s confidence in the plant’s safety.

Since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, most of Japan’s nuclear reactors remain shut due to safety lapses and strict regulatory process.

Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority is responsible for overseeing safety protocols of remaining 33 reactors, according to the report.

The regulator barred Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant from restarting operations after its preventive measures are found to be inadequate.

In the latest incident of security lapse, the employee mislaid the papers related to dealing with fires and floods.

A local resident reportedly found some of the lost papers which the employee placed on the car roof and drove off.

Now the company is trying to recover 38 pages of documents and has warned the employee, alongside tightening rules on handling documents.