Additional ¥8 Trillion Required

The Federation of Electric Power Company of Japan estimated the cost for compensation and decontamination caused by the severe accident in First Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant to be exceeding the original plan by ¥8 trillion. The federation demanded Japanese government to pay for it. The owner of Fukushima Plant, Tokyo Electric Power Company, already requested the government to pay the excessive cost for dismantlement of broken plant. The total cost for the accident five and a half years ago has not been clear at all.

The government estimated the cost of compensation for sufferers or evacuees to be ¥5.4 trillion and of decontamination for towns, rice pads or forests to be ¥2.5 trillion three years ago. The owner, TEPCO, is supposed to receive the money for those purposes from Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation. The money for compensation would be paid by major power companies in Japan and cost for decontamination would be yielded by selling the stocks of TEPCO possessed by the corporation.

The estimation of FEPC proved the original estimation to be too optimistic. The cost for compensation is amounting to ¥8 trillion, increasing by ¥2.6 trillion and decontamination will be expensive as much as ¥7 trillion, adding ¥4.5 trillion to original plan. Further unfortunately, the value of TEPCO stocks has declined, which reduces benefit of selling them by ¥1 trillion. Total excessive cost can be calculated to be ¥8.1 trillion with the reasons above.

While TEPCO is supposed to pay for dismantlement of the plant for themselves, its cost is greatly swelling from estimated ¥2 trillion. To ask financial support, TEPCO and national government established discussion over the burden.

FEPC raised some points that increased the cost for treatment of the severe accident, including slow progress in resumption of operation of nuclear reactors in Japan or higher competitiveness over electricity sales after deregulation of retailing. But, it is reasonable for Japanese public to become skeptical on nuclear power generation after realizing incredible damage in Fukushima. It is unacceptable for ordinary people that diversification of electric supplier causes further payment of tax money for a disabled power company.

There is an argument in the government that further cost cannot be accepted by the people without determined effort of power companies. It is still unclear whether the request of FEPC or TEPCO can be approved.