We Won’t Pay for That

Tokyo Electric Power Company was the owner of First Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant at the time of severe accident in 2011, failing to keep on supplying electricity to the reactors. It still is so and TEPCO has a responsibility to compensate all the damages brought by the accident, needless to say. Now, the power company is rejecting to pay money for a part of decontamination effort, which was caused by their operation.

Mainichi Shimbun reported on Monday that TEPCO has been showing an attitude not to pay for decontamination efforts that was planned after the end of 2013. The reason they raised was a decision by Shinzo Abe Cabinet on December 20^th of the year, which required TEPCO to compensate for the cost on decontamination and building intermediate storage facility for radioactive debris that had been done or planned at the time. TEPCO argues that the decision did not determine what should they do for additional decontamination efforts.

One thing strange is that interpretation of the decision is different between Ministries. Ministry of Environment explained that TEPCO had not been accepting to pay for cleaning up the main roads within the most contaminated area, which had been planed after the Cabinet decision, while the company had been willing to pay for decontamination around public facilities.

Special Measures Act for Nuclear Disaster determines that a power generation company is responsible for the consequences of nuclear disaster and has to restore the status before the accident. It is more than obvious that TEPCO is responsible for decontaminating entire land, regardless the time when any one of the Cabinet decisions is made. “It does not make sense that compensations are distinguished depending on the time before or after the Cabinet decision in light of the Special Measures Act,” told an officer in MOE to Mainichi.

Strange is the recognition of Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. “The Cabinet decision did not say to demand for unplanned decontamination. We instruct TEPCO to abide by the decision,” told an officer in the Ministry. “We are appropriately responding to the Special Measures Act, compensation process in nuclear disaster and Cabinet decision in 2013, consulting with related Ministries,” said Public Affairs Room of TEPCO.

IF TEPCO rejects paying for the cost for decontamination, taxpayers will have to do that. Although nuclear power generation had an aspect of national project supported by the government, responsibility of accident has been recognized as attributed to power companies. That has been a conceptive basis of nuclear disaster management. One has to imagine that this is a pardon for TEPCO, expecting consecutive resumption of reactors all over Japan.