Tokyo Electric Power Company

This article is part of the Nuclear Spin project of Spinwatch.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company is the semi-nationalised operator of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, which in 2010 suffered a tsunami-induced triple meltdown.

Activities

In August 2013, after two-and-a-half years after the tsunami, the Financial Times reported that the 'effort to decommission the stricken Fukushima plant continues to resemble an episode of the Keystone Kops'.

A rat gnawed through a cable, causing a dangerous power outage. In July, after months of obfuscation, Tokyo Electric Power, the semi-nationalised operator, admitted the plant was leaking radioactive water into the ocean. This month the government stepped in to contain the leak with an untested process to freeze the ground around the plant. Current estimates suggest it will take decades and cost more than $10bn to decommission Fukushima. So much for cheap nuclear fuel.

Resources and Notes

Resources

Press

• Nuclear nightmare: Tighter regulation is the only hope to restart Japan's nuclear reactors, Financial Times, August 12, 2013 6:36 pm
• Fukushima: The global fall-out, Editorial, The Guardian, Thursday 22 August 2013 23.15 BST

Video

• Fukushima leak questions handling of nuclear plant crisis, Reporter Mark Willacy, 7.30 Report, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, screened 19 September 2013, 6mins 48s. Powerful progamme on the impact on local fishing industry, and footage from inside TEPCO's Dai-ichi nuclear plant.