Tokyo ? Hokuriku Electric Power Co.’s carbon dioxide emissions are expected to rise significantly following the suspension of its nuclear power plant in Shikamachi, Ishikawa Prefecture, halted after the discovery that the power provider had covered up a criticality accident in 1999.

The Hokuriku cover-up is not the first time such a scandal has hurt the nation’s efforts to reduce the effects of greenhouse gases by relying on thermal power generation when nuclear plants were forced to suspend operations. Hokuriku Electric’s misdeeds only adds fuel to those concerns.

CO2 emissions from power plants nationwide increased to 375 million tons in fiscal 2005 from 277 million tons in 1990. Hokuriku Electric’s emission amounts to about 3 percent of the total at 11.38 million tons.