Japan Atomic Power Co., struggling financially while its nuclear reactors remain offline, still donated 1.54 billion yen ($13.7 million) to a city government and asked that the funds be kept secret, officials said Nov. 1.
Japan Atomic Power Co., struggling financially while its nuclear reactors remain offline, still donated 1.54 billion yen ($13.7 million) to a city government and asked that the funds be kept secret, officials said Nov. 1.
The money used for the donations came from fees paid by other power companies, who are under contract to buy electricity from Japan Atomic Power.
Japan Atomic Power has not produced any electricity from its three nuclear reactors since they were shut down following the March 2011 nuclear accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. The company’s requests for secrecy came after criticism arose over why it was still receiving money from the industry for nonexistent electricity.
The city government of Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, which hosts Japan Atomic Power’s two-reactor Tsuruga nuclear plant, started receiving donations from the company in 2009, mainly for use in road construction. The city had listed the donations, totaling 440 million yen, on official documents and shown them to the city assembly until March 2012.
At the end of March 2013, Japan Atomic Power donated 850 million yen to Tsuruga city. On May 31 that year, it asked the city not to list the donation on official documents.
The Tokyo-based company also donated 670 million yen in December 2013 and 19 million yen in March 2014. Again, Japan Atomic Power requested secrecy from the city government.
The city complied with the requests.
“We judged that it is not necessary (for the city government) to describe our donations on the official documents,” said an official at Japan Atomic Power.
The Tsuruga government said the city has generally followed donors’ requests that their names not appear on official documents.
Harumi Kondaiji, a Tsuruga city assemblywoman, said such nondisclosure was unacceptable.
“It is unforgivable for the city government not to show its citizens where the financial sources of its public works projects come from,” she said.
Japan Atomic Power, which specializes in nuclear power generation, was set up in 1957 with capital mainly from major electric power companies. Aside from the Tsuruga plant, the company operates one reactor at its Tokai No. 2 nuclear power plant in Ibaraki Prefecture.
Five power companies, including Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Kansai Electric Power Co., are currently under contract to pay more than 100 billion yen a year in total as “basic fees” for electricity generated by Japan Atomic Power.
The central government in May 2012 started studying TEPCO’s request to raise its electricity charges and began similar examinations in December that year on a rate-hike request from Kansai Electric.
During the process, members of an advisory council to the industry minister criticized Japan Atomic Power for receiving more than 100 billion yen from the five electric power companies despite being unable to generate any electricity to sell.
But the basic fees to Japan Atomic Power have continued even though its reactors--its only source of revenue--have remained shut down. Those fees, in turn, were used for the company’s donations to Tsuruga city.
Household and corporate customers of TEPCO and Kansai Electric were eventually forced to pay higher electricity charges.
The industry ministry now prohibits electric power companies from including donations to local governments that host nuclear plants as part of their costs when they calculate electricity charges.
Japan Atomic Power has told the Tsuruga city government that it will stop providing donations starting in 2015.
The company has applied to the Nuclear Regulation Authority for safety screening to resume operations at the Tokai No. 2 nuclear plant. But concerns have arisen about the age of the reactor--35 years--and the damage to the plant caused by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
In addition, the NRA concluded in May 2013 that an active fault runs below the No. 2 reactor of the company’s Tsuruga nuclear power plant, putting in doubt any early restart of the plant.
Japan Atomic Power’s management situation is so serious that it is receiving debt guarantees from the electric power industry.
“The company probably wants to conceal the fact that it is making donations (to Tsuruga city) despite its serious financial situation,” said a high-ranking official of the city government.
(This article was written by Hideki Muroya and Satoshi Otani.)