TEPCO aims to restart Kashiwazaki-Kariwa reactors in 2019

would not eat the fish he is catching...

Is it just a matter of time before they lobbying and push all the reactors back on again?

I am surprised they are still off tbh. I am really hoping that we can have an alternative source of energy, but I'm not hopeful.

These seem too big and important to be decommissioned and it's too expensive to go for another energy source. But turning them on is very political so it may be a button Abe doesn't wanna touch right now.

TEPCO, which has lied about its own incompetence and which wanted its employees to abandon the power plants in Fukushima during the most critical few hours and which sucks at the government teat of its friends (Abe et al), should not be allowed to operate a ramen stand let alone a nuclear power complex.

Its massive decommissioning costs are going to be borne by the taxpayer, not TEPCO. I wouldn't be surprised if its massive compensation is mostly being spent on lawyers and other desk jockeys who are spending most of their time trying to deny people their just compensation.

costs "e borne by the taxpayer, not TEPCO."

As they should be. TEPCO is in business to provide stable power to its customers. There is no law that says they have to make a profit, but there are laws saying that they have to provide stable power. You know that right? If the government wants to represent the people and tell TEPCO what to do, that is fine, but the people have to pay.

I really don't get this constant hue and cry from people who post against nuclear. Look. If you want to keep people from doing what you legally obligated them to do, you have to pay them. They kept their end of the bargain, and they are certainly TRYING to keep it. If you want to mandate that they pay for more solar, well, you will get the bill. If you don't want them to use nuclear, well, they will charge you for all the coal and gas they burn. Pay up and let people do their jobs.

It is time to grow up, people. Everyone has respected the whole anti-nuclear agenda and they got what they wanted. Don't cry about paying the bill and don't cry if TEPCO meets all of your rules and criteria and then some. Or could it be that all that talk about safety, etc. was just a hysterical tantrum to which NOBODY was supposed to respond reasonably?

Decommissioning costs are supposed to be paid by the utility from funds saved up during the normal 40 year operation life of the plant; they should not be paid by the tax payer. It's considered part and parcel of the power generating business cycle. Extending reactor life from 40 to 60 years is a cash cow for the operators, as long as the plants remain safe and cost-effective; though incidents at Maihama have suggested that the materials and infrastructure that make up the NPP can degrade more quickly than expected over time.

Not sure if anyone noticed, but I did. Starting next month, I will be paying about .5 yen MORE per kWh because my utility has to pay people who installed solar. I will also be paying about .5 yen MORE per kWh because the price of fossil fuels is coming up ever so gradually. If you use 500 kWh per month, be ready for fork over another 500 yen per month on top of the 1000 yen or so in surcharges you are already paying.

There is NO CAP on those extra charges to everyone' s electric bill. If each of those goes to the highest value recorded over the last five years, you could be paying an extra 5 yen per kWh in less than a year. Add in decommissioning costs just for fun. 20% to 30% fee hikes are on the way, people, and the structure for those hikes has already been approved.

I predict that once people start to understand how much this anti-nuclear hysteria is really costing them, we might get some different policies in relation to these fully functional plants. Hysteria and waste are expensive... who knew?

 I will be paying about .5 yen MORE per kWh because my utility has to pay people who installed solar

Just get Enefarm, put all electricity through the gas company and slowly stop paying TEPCO crooks

"are supposed to be paid by the utility from funds saved up during the normal 40 year operation life of the plant; they should not be paid by the tax payer. "

I think you missed the first part of this movie. If I were a lawyer for the utilities, I would bring up that little episode when Kan, the Prime Minister and representative of the government of the people of Japan, told nuclear plant operators to shut down, FOR NO REASON, in about May of 2011. At that time, Naoto Kan the mighty assumed responsibility and liability for the activities of utilities. He did not use due process, he did not cite any scientific or economic reason, he just did it. The utilities complied fully.

So really, I think the utilities are off the hook. They did nothing wrong. They were fully compliant with all regulations They did their jobs. If the government wants to nationalize their operations and tell them they have to use fossil fuels, well, ok, but why do the utilities have to pick up the bill for national hysteria?

I mean. I feel a big OOOOOPS for the anti-nuclear hysterians here because they will be responsible for a lot of poor people not being able to pay their electric and tax bills really soon now. At the same time, they are responsible for CO2 emissions going through the roof. Kan and Asahi and all the rest of the witch hunters have earned their ignominy, and here it comes.

If you truly believe that antinuclear hysteria has created a better Japan, you should have no problem paying an extra 5000 yen per month or so in taxes and electric bills. Where is the courage of your convictions?

"Just get Enefarm, put all electricity through the gas company and slowly stop paying TEPCO crooks"

Maybe you missed the memo, but one aspect of deregulation and the access that all of these companies get to the grid is that they will be liable for industry charges related to nuclear cleanup and decommissioning, just like everyone else.

And really, your reaction is extremely disingenuous. TEPCO consumers have enjoyed about four decades of clean, safe, cheap power from Fukushima. Is it REALLY something to be admired for people like you to proudly declare that you won't take any responsibility for that, as a TEPCO customer? You should be ashamed of yourself. Nobody else can run away from the problem. If you really believe that you supported TEPCO and that TEPCO did something wrong, you should be first in line to try to make that right. I think that part of the liberal credo is stepping up and taking responsibility for social harm. I wonder if ENEFARM is encouraging people to do the right thing or to simply run away from responsibility.

@5SpeedRacer5 I should be ashamed of myself for getting ENEFARM? you sound like either a nuclear lobbyist or a conspiracy theorist with tin foil on his head.

ENEFARM allows you to see how much electricity you are using, is very eco-friendly and it also tells you when you use too much electricity. There is a digital monitor in the kitchen showing you how much gas/electricity you are using.

The only ingenuity I ever got from TEPCO was them raising my electricity rates so they could clean up their mess after they tried to lie to the public about it.

I think you should be ashamed of yourself.

5speedracer5: "Add in decommissioning costs just for fun. 20% to 30% fee hikes are on the way, people, and the structure for those hikes has already been approved."

And those decommissioning rates are going to cost less later because...? Or, how about "just for fun" you add the 800 billion it's going to cost (how many times less than they promised?) for the reactor the other day that they waited so long to decommission, and how much -- and no more distracting -- is Fukushima going to cost in total, and how long will it take? Don't forget to factor in clean up costs and losses from nations unwilling take the risk of importing foods from the regions affected by such nuclear disasters.

But you won't. You'll just deflect and say NPPs are the answer without failing to see that attitude is the problem.

It's not IF an accident happens again (especially with TEPCO, who has them all the time, and has at Niigata before), it's WHEN.

This, the world's biggest NPP, was knocked out by an earlier earthquake in 2007. They are still trying to get most of it back on line, 10 years later, but how earthquake proof is it?

http://www.asahi.com/sp/ajw/articles/AJ201702150042.html