Efforts to overcome Japan's looming power crisis may cost the country's nine major electricity companies as much as 2 trillion yen in total a year, it has been learned.
With Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO)'s Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant knocked out by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, and the temporary shuttering of Chubu Electric Power Co.'s Hamaoka nuclear power plant, electric companies across Japan are facing the need to boost generating capacity as well as switch to non-nuclear power sources, heaping staggering new costs onto their balance sheets.
Seven of the nine firms fear they will not have a reasonable level of backup generating capacity for Japan's steamy summer months, while rising oil prices are pushing up the cost of non-nuclear power generation. Meanwhile, the possibility of rising electricity charges coupled with an uncertain power supply presents a serious threat to Japan's economic performance.
According to the nine power firms, a combination of regular inspections, the March 11 disaster and other causes have put 37 of Japan's 54 commercial nuclear reactors out of operation. Seventeen are now supplying power to the grid, but five of those must also be shut down for regular inspections by the end of August. The power companies are considering firing up reactors that are now under inspection to meet summertime demand, but local governments have stated that the central government must come up with new nuclear safety standards before they will let any reactors go back into commission.
Read more at http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110607p2a00m0na007000c.html
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