Tepco to earmark $10 billion more to dismantle damaged reactors: Nikkei
Date: 20-Sep-13
Country: JAPAN
Author: Mridhula Raghavan
Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO)'s tsunami-crippled Fukushima
Daiichi nuclear power plant's reactor buildings one to four (L to R)
are seen in Fukushima prefecture, in this aerial view photo taken by
Kyodo, March 11, 2012.
Photo: Kyodo
Tokyo Electric Power Co's President Naomi Hirose told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the utility would secure an additional 1 trillion yen ($10.05 billion) to pay for dismantling the damaged nuclear reactors at its Fukushima Daiichi plant, the Nikkei reported.
The utility already has earmarked 960 billion yen for taking down the crippled 1-4 reactors. The company will now set aside an additional 100 billion yen a year for the next decade, with a portion of the sum slated to go toward handling the leak of contaminated water at the plant, the business daily said.
The company plans to raise the 1 trillion yen by cutting costs and capital spending, instead of seeking public money, the Japanese daily said.
Tepco will now likely dismantle units 5 and 6 at the plant, which are intact, in light of a request from Abe.
Hit by a magnitude 9.0-earthquake and ensuing tsunami on March 11, 2011, the Fukushima nuclear complex lost nearly all its power sources and consequently the ability to cool the reactors and spent fuel pools at the Nos. 1 to 4 units.
($1 = 99.4750 Japanese yen)
(Reporting by Mridhula Raghavan in Bangalore)
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