TEPCO vs Niigata

Survival for a company or security of people? That is the question for the resumption of reactors in Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant in Niigata. Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) decided on Tuesday to submit a request of examination for restarting reactors’ operation without any consent of regional opinion around the plant. The governor of Niigata, Hirohiko Izumida, was furious in the press conference. Knowing that governor is the authority to allow the resumption, TEPCO challenged to regional community for improving its fiscal situation.

The board of directors of TEPCO unanimously decided to submit the examination as soon as possible after new regulation standard is determined by Nuclear Regulation Authority next Monday. TEPCO has been marked current-account deficit in two consecutive fiscal years with a huge amount of cost for taking care of post-accident measures in First Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. If it shows the deficit this year, ending March 2014, there is a possibility that banks will end rending money to TEPCO, leading to possible bankruptcy. The choice for TEPCO is resuming nuclear power generation or raising electricity fee of users.

The President of TEPCO, Naomi Hirose, insisted that he did not want to raise the fee. There is a justification in the company that it has to avoid raising the fee not to bother the economy that is regaining power by Abenomics. However, those reasonings are all for its survival, and the board of TEPCO expects favors from leading Liberal Democratic Party to help it. Nobody believes that a company that created incredible damage to local economy, society, people in Fukushima and owed huge deficit and responsibility to recover the disaster can turn its fiscal balance from red to black by resuming some reactors in other places. In the name of meeting social needs, TEPCO aims to maintain what they established.

It is wrong for an economic entity to seek its own benefit with sacrifice of security of a number of people. “There is no bigger neglect of local community than this,” told Izumida at the conference. He denounced TEPCO of its destruction of Niigata’s reliance. People in Niigata became skeptical about TEPCO after it hided information in the accident in Kashiwazaki-Kariwa in 2002. Izumida has been showing his attitude against resumption in the plant.

Before requesting resumption, TEPCO needs to show how to stop the leakage of radioactive materials to the land, air and sea in the First Fukushima, how to compensate to the victims of accident in Fukushima and how to clean up the land it has contaminated.