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Japanese govt considering putting all nuclear reactors into one company

Nuclear industry amalgamation mulled LDP examining idea to bring all reactors under one company, Japan Times, 23 Oct 2013. BLOOMBERG  The government is discussing a radical overhaul of the nuclear power sector that would combine the nation’s 50 operating reactors into a single company to rebuild an industry that’s been effectively halted by the Fukushima disaster that started in March 2011.

The company would be owned by the nine regional utilities, along with wholesalers Japan Atomic Power Co. and Electric Power Development Co., while the government and reactor makers would give financial and technical support, Taku Yamamoto, who chairs the Liberal Democratic Party’s energy committee, said in an interview.

Part of the profit from sales of the new company’s electricity would be funneled toward the cleanup of the Fukushima No. 1 power plant and victim compensation, which combined may cost more than ¥11 trillion. The plan would keep Tokyo Electric Power Co. alive to shoulder Fukushima costs……

None of the idled reactors may be restarted by the end of March 31, as preparations by power companies for the Nuclear Regulation Authority’s safety review are behind schedule, the Sankei Shimbun reported Monday.

LDP lawmakers have discussed other options to restructure Tepco. Tadamori Oshima, head of the party’s 2011 quake reconstruction task force, proposed to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that Tepco form a separate company to deal with decommissioning Fukushima No. 1 and the government provide financial aid, Kyodo News reported Sept. 21.

The Abe administration is seeking the Diet’s endorsementthis month for a bill designed to end the 60-year-old monopolies of the regional utilities, led by Tepco.

The other entities — which like Tepco dominate electricity generation and transmission in their respective regions — are Hokkaido Electric Power Co., Tohoku Electric Power Co., Chubu Electric Power Co., Kansai Electric, Hokuriku Electric Power Co., Chugoku Electric Power Co., Shikoku Electric Power Co. and Kyushu Electric Power Co.

The draft bill would unbundle generation and transmission operations and allow households to choose power suppliers for the first time. In theory, 60 percent of the electricity market has been deregulated, though in practice the dominance of the regional utilities stands in the way…… http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/10/23/business/ldp-mulls-amalgamating-all-nuclear-plants-under-one-firm/#.UmnhNnBwo7o

October 25, 2013 - Posted by | Japan, politics

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