Promotion of nukes still going strong

August 15, 2014

Utilities still spending consumer fees to run nuclear-promotion centers

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/business/AJ201408150053

Seven electric power utilities continue to spend billions of yen to run facilities that promote nuclear power despite dwindling visitor numbers and pressure on the companies to cut costs.

Operating expenses for these public relations centers are covered by consumer payments for electricity, the rates for which were raised after the utilities’ nuclear reactors were taken offline following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.

The government approved the higher charges on households based on the premise that the companies would take thorough measures to improve efficiency and reduce spending.

The nine utilities in Japan that operate nuclear power plants spent 38 billion yen ($370 million) in advertising in fiscal 2012, a 56-percent drop from fiscal 2010.

But according to research by The Asahi Shimbun, seven utilities--Hokkaido Electric Power Co., Tohoku Electric Power Co., Tokyo Electric Power Co., Chubu Electric Power Co., Kansai Electric Power Co., Shikoku Electric Power Co. and Kyushu Electric Power Co.--still run 17 promotional facilities.

Six of them revealed they will spend a total of about 3 billion yen in operating expenses this fiscal year for the public relations facilities, most of which are related to nuclear power plants. Chubu Electric declined to provide figures.

Many of the facilities were built near power plants to illustrate the mechanism of nuclear power generation. Models, images and other displays appeal the need for nuclear energy and its safety. Other facilities explain and promote thermal, hydroelectric and geothermal power generation.

The nuclear promotion sites, however, tend to be better equipped. Some offer recreational services, including a pool for residents who live in areas that host nuclear power plants.

Although entry to most of these facilities is free, visitor numbers have fallen in recent years due in part to their inconvenient locations and deteriorating conditions.

In fiscal 2012, 15,000 people visited an exhibition center near Kyushu Electric’s Sendai nuclear plant in Satsuma-Sendai, Kagoshima Prefecture, below 20 percent of the peak figure in fiscal 1982. The Sendai nuclear plant is expected to be the first brought back online under stricter new safety standards of the Nuclear Regulation Authority.

TEPCO shut down two facilities related to its two nuclear plants in Fukushima Prefecture that were hit by the tsunami on March 11, 2011. A triple meltdown occurred at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant following the disaster.

They were the only nuclear-promotion facilities to close down.

But TEPCO still runs five facilities related to its nuclear power plants and one facility connected to a different power plant.

Although Kyushu Electric also shut down some public relations centers, it continues to operate two nuclear-related and two other facilities.

Kenichi Oshima, a professor of environmental economics at Ritsumeikan University’s College of International Relations, said the utilities may feel they have no choice but to keep running these facilities, despite their tough financial situations.

He said the facilities were established to reassure residents in communities that agreed to host nuclear power plants, so shutting down these sites could give the impression that abandoning nuclear power is OK.

But he said that is no justification for the power companies to continue spending on the facilities.

“The costs lack economic rationality, so they should be reviewed,” Oshima said.

TEPCO officials said the company continues to operate nuclear-promotional facilities because they serve as important bases to provide accurate and comprehensible information about the power plants.

Kyushu Electric also said the facilities are indispensable in gaining the public’s understanding for its plans to restart nuclear reactors.

The other utilities echoed that sentiment, saying they have no plans to dismantle such necessary promotional facilities.

(This article was written by Makoto Tsuchiya and Kaname Kakuta.)