Japanese utility TEPCO to seek partners for nuclear operations

A new recovery plan has been submitted for approval.

Japanese power utility TEPCO has submitted a new recovery plan for approval to the Japanese government, in an attempt to boost its finances since the Fukushima disaster in 2011, according to Enerdata.

The company will seek partners for its nuclear and power transmission activities, which may prove challenging, since Tohoku Electric and Chubu Electric have already announced that they were not considering any nuclear alliance with TEPCO.

TEPCO, which plans to invest Yen 500bn/year (US$4.4bn/year) over the coming decades for decommissioning the Fukushima nuclear power plant and compensate residents, needs to restart the seven reactors of its 7,965 MW Kashiwazaki-Kariwa (KK) nuclear plant in northern Japan. The company estimates that it can reduce its costs by Yen 40-90bn/year (US$350-790m/year) for each KK reactor it restarts.

However, a rapid restart of the plant, which was already damaged by an earthquake and radiation leaks in 2007, is unlikely, as the Niigata prefecture is opposed to any restart without a safety plan review.

This story was originally published by Enerdata.