The "Yomiuri" has a history of promoting nuclear power within Japan. During the 1950s Matsutaro Shoriki, the head of the "Yomiuri", agreed to use his newspaper to promote nuclear power in Japan for the CIA. In May 2011, when the then Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan requested Chubu Electric Power Company to shut down several of its Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plants due to safety concerns, the "Yomiuri" responded with criticism, calling the move "abrupt" and a difficult situation for Chubu Electric's shareholders. It wrote Kan "should seriously reflect on the way he made his request." It then followed up with an article wondering about how dangerous Hamaoka really was and called Kan's request "a political judgment that went beyond technological worthiness." The next day damage to the pipes inside the condenser was discovered at one of the plants following a leak of seawater into the reactor.