Japan

The Japanese government may take control of the nation's nuclear power plants away from private utilities, in a bid to improve accountability.

Tokyo Electric Power Co Inc's (9501.T) main lenders will begin talks this week to decide conditions to lend Japan's biggest utility, also known as Tepco, an additional 1 trillion yen ($13.01 billion), at the government's request, business daily The Nikkei said. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc (8316.T) unit Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp and other financial institutions have already infused funds in Tepco, including about 2 trillion yen in emergency financing last spring, the daily said. The government plans to inject 1 trillion yen in public funds to help Tepco pay for decommissioning reactors at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and have private sector financial institutions provide about 1 trillion yen in working capital financing, Nikkei said. Tepco and the government-backed Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund have indicated to financial institutions that they plan to restart the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in about two years, the daily said. If nuclear plants that have been idled since the March earthquake and tsunami cannot be brought back online, Tepco's earnings would take a hit because it would need to rely more on fossil fuel, Nikkei said.

Tokyo Electric Power Co Inc's (9501.T) main lenders will begin talks this week to decide conditions to lend Japan's biggest utility, also known as Tepco, an additional 1 trillion yen ($13.01 billion), at the government's request, business daily The Nikkei said. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc (8316.T) unit Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp and other financial institutions have already infused funds in Tepco, including about 2 trillion yen in emergency financing last spring, the daily said. The government plans to inject 1 trillion yen in public funds to help Tepco pay for decommissioning reactors at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and have private sector financial institutions provide about 1 trillion yen in working capital financing, Nikkei said. Tepco and the government-backed Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund have indicated to financial institutions that they plan to restart the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in about two years, the daily said. If nuclear plants that have been idled since the March earthquake and tsunami cannot be brought back online, Tepco's earnings would take a hit because it would need to rely more on fossil fuel, Nikkei said.  

Japan's government is considering taking control of the nation's nuclear power plants away from private utilities, in a bid to improve accountability of the industry, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Friday. The move comes as Tokyo Electric Power Co has fallen under criticism for its handling of the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant triggered by the devastating earthquake and tsunami in March last year. "Japan should avoid a situation where private companies own nuclear power facilities and only enjoy the benefits (of low running costs) when the state takes care of compensation and decontamination arising from nuclear accidents," Trade Minister Yukio Edano, who oversees energy policy, was quoted as telling the paper. Edano also said the government must reach a clear decision on whether private companies should pay massive insurance fees and operate nuclear power facilities or hand over the benefits to the state, which also would take on the risks of nuclear accidents, according to the paper. As Tokyo Electric, better known as Tepco, faces massive compensation from the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years, the government has set up a bailout body for payment assistance. But with the firm's future still in doubt due to additional burdens of decommissioning the crippled reactors, the government may also inject about $13 billion into the company as early as the summer, effectively nationalising it. Edano reiterated that it was highly likely Tepco would be put under a state control but that he did not see it as a permanent move as private firms should basically be responsible for supplying electricity, the Yomiuri said. The trade ministry is set to deepen debate on nuclear power operations toward the spring and reach conclusions in step with a planned revision in the summer of the law governing nuclear damage compensation, the Yomiuri said. Through the overhaul, the government is likely to seek the public's understanding on the restart of nuclear reactors shut for regular maintenance, it added. The Nikkei business daily reported that the trade ministry was considering separating licensing system for power generation, transmission and retailing as part of power sector reform aimed at opening it up to smaller players. Last month, the government announced the agenda for power sector reform, including a possible separation of power generation and transmission operations, a long-discussed idea that would break the monopolies of regional power companies like Tepco, but stressed that any movement on the

TEPCO says  it found in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant's No.2 reactor radioactive substances that could have resulted from continuous nuclear fission.

Operation of nuclear reactors will be limited by the Japanese government to 40 years, although there would be exceptions if certain requirements are met.

Shikoku Electric Power Co. halted the No.1 reactor at its Ikata nuclear power plant in Ehime prefecture for a three-month scheduled checkup.

Good Bye Kyoto: This month, the Japanese Ministry of Environment announced that greenhouse gas emissions in Japan had increased in the year to 2010, reflecting the continued recovery of its economy. Further, Japan stated at the recently concluded UN conference on climate change in Durban that it would not go along with continuing the Kyoto Protocol’s system of cap and trade for greenhouse gas emissions but also said at the same time that it would continue efforts to reduce such emissions all means. So is it backtracking by Japan or is Japan “walking the talk” albeit in a different path?

Japanese Trade Minister Yukio Edano urged Tepco to consider temporarily going under state control.

Tohoku Electric has started trial power output from the 34-megawatt No.6 gas turbine unit at its Niigata energy plant.

Japan's total oil product sales are expected to fall 3.9 percent starting April if the nation's nuclear plants are allowed to resume operations from next summer.

Six electricity utilities in central and western Japan will coordinate the use of their grid to boost wind power capacity by 400 megawatts.

Tepco announced it will raise corporate customers' electricity rates in April due to hefty fuel costs.

Companies have enough capacity to supply electricity to more than 40% of Japanese households - but there’s a catch.

Japan's utilities burned 200,000 bpd more crude and 136,000 bpd more low-sulphur fuel oil in October than a year earlier to compensate for the loss of nuclear power capacity.