Fukushima recovery headquarters

January 1, 2013

TEPCO sets up 'Fukushima recovery headquarters' near disaster-hit plant

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130101p2a00m0na007000c.html

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) on Jan. 1 set up a "Fukushima recovery headquarters" near its disaster-stricken Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, but doubts remain about the new facility's effectiveness as utility continues to struggle financially.

The headquarters were set up at the "J-Village" facility serving as the base of operations to bring the Fukushima plant disaster under control. TEPCO also plans to move ahead with the establishment of a research facility acting as an international base for reactor dismantlement, and to set up a next-generation coal-fired thermal power plant in the prefecture. The efforts are to "fulfill (TEPCO's) responsibility" for the disaster, according to company president Naomi Hirose.

The recovery headquarters' establishment came after Hirose told a news conference on Nov. 7, 2012, 100 days after the company was effectively nationalized, "Our response to the disaster will serve as the origin of the reborn TEPCO. We will not run from Fukushima."

The new headquarters will handle decisions on compensation payments and radiation decontamination, taking over the job from TEPCO's main headquarters. In line with the move, TEPCO will boost its Fukushima Prefecture workforce to around 4,000 workers by the end of 2013 -- an increase of about 500 workers. It will speed up compensation payments and decontamination work, which have come under fire for taking too long. Employees not stationed at the Fukushima headquarters will visit the prefecture two to three times a year to help residents with everyday tasks such as transporting home furniture in a move Hirose dubbed "working together with Fukushima."

Fukushima Prefecture has suffered a population decline and loss of jobs because of the nuclear disaster. TEPCO predicts the planned coal plant will create 2,000 jobs in its construction, 200 in its operation, and 1,000 for regular inspections every few years. It accordingly views the plant as playing a major role in employment recovery and rebuilding people's livelihoods.

A portion of other administrative jobs performed in the Kanto region -- including payroll calculations and call center operations -- will also gradually be transferred to Fukushima Prefecture. TEPCO hopes to have its reactor dismantling research facility up and running in the spring of 2013.

"If there are more employees living in Fukushima Prefecture, it will bring vitality to local shops and help recovery," says Hirose.

However, there are many outstanding issues. Because TEPCO suffered financially from the nuclear disaster and has effectively been nationalized, it is unable to build large-scale power plants on its own and is duty-bound to buy its power from other companies through bidding. Under the current framework it would be difficult for the company to construct a coal power plant in Fukushima Prefecture by itself. President Hirose is calling on the national government to give the utility "special help for aiding the recovery" of the prefecture.

Furthermore, assistance from the government and the International Atomic Energy Agency will be needed when setting up the reactor disassembly research facility.

"TEPCO cannot handle the job itself," one official at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry commented.

Some are hopeful about TEPCO's plans.

"If they create employment it will be a first step towards residents' return," commented an employee of the Tomioka town government. Others, however, still have strong suspicions, such as an anti-nuclear plant demonstrator in Tokyo who dismissed the efforts as "a performance intended to initiate the reactivation of nuclear plants."

TEPCO vice-president Yoshiyuki Ishizaki, who is living in Fukushima Prefecture and who has become representative for the recovery headquarters, said, "While doing our work, we will think of what we can do for recovery and execute it. We would like to be evaluated on that work as we do it."