nuclear-news

Japan’s govt keeps TEPCO afloat with huge funding aid

TEPCO government aid to be increased to almost 10 trillion yen http://japandailypress.com/tepco-government-aid-to-be-increased-to-almost-10-trillion-yen-1941261/ Dec 19, 2013  Maan Pamintuan The Japanese government’s financial assistance to Tokyo Electric Power Co(TEPCO), the operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, is set to be raised from 5 trillion yen to around 9 to 10 trillion yen to help rebuild the troubled company. The additional funds will be used to guarantee payment to the victims of the 2011 nuclear crisis of Fukushima, most of whom are still displaced due to radiation and decontamination issues in the plant, the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

In July 2012, after donating 1 trillion yen to increase TEPCO’s capital, the government acquired 50.1 % shares of the company, which essentially placed the operator under state control eligible for government-funded rehabilitation. Plans to sell all shares by the 2030s to pay for decontamination work on areas within the nuclear plant are to be decided on a meeting of the Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters on Friday along with other factors of the company’s special business plan, which includes the Kashiwazaki-Kariwanuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture that is targeted to go back online by July 2014. This assumes the company a 107 billion yen ordinary profit in 2014 and around 150 billion yen annually, thereafter.

While huge profits are expected to come in next year for TEPCO, the 50 billion yen a year to be paid to the Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund andcompensation for victims of the nuclear accident for a period of time, made the government decide to raise the upper limit of financial assistance to the company.

Profits left after paying the fund will be spent on refurbishing thermal power plants. Other parts of the new business reconstruction plan include joint procurement of fuel with gas companies and oil wholesalers and a construction of a new coal-powered thermal power plant.

December 20, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, politics