TEPCO Shrugging Off Shareholders
Channel: onthewaytoextinction
Date: 2013-06-28

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/

TEPCO SHAREHOLDERS WANT OUT OF NUCLEAR POWER

A group of shareholders at Tokyo Electric Power Company is demanding the utility withdraw from the business of nuclear power generation. TEPCO operates the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

 Shareholders gathered in Tokyo on Wednesday. It was their first annual meeting since the utility was effectively placed under government control.

 TEPCO Chairman Kazuhiko Shimokobe apologized to shareholders for continuing to cause concern and inconvenience more than 2 years after the nuclear disaster.

 The utility has been slow to clean up the Fukushima Daiichi plant and continues to report leaks of radiation-contaminated water.

 TEPCO President Naomi Hirose asked shareholders to support the firm's plan to restart its nuclear reactors. He said management will quickly improve safety and strengthen operations.

 The shareholders' group is demanding the firm decommission all of its nuclear reactors. They also want more detailed disclosure of information, and cuts in remuneration to board members.

 One shareholder said decommissioning the reactors would be a way for TEPCO to compensate survivors of the nuclear disaster.

Jun. 26, 2013 - Updated 04:05 UTC

[SOME] SHAREHOLDERS REJECT ANTI-NUCLEAR POWER PROPOSALS
  
Nine Japanese utilities that own nuclear power plants held their shareholders' meetings on Wednesday. Groups opposed to nuclear power asked shareholders to reject atomic energy.

 Executives from all the utilities said that suspending operations at their nuclear plants has had a major impact on their businesses. This is due to an increase in fuel costs for running thermal power plants.

 Four of the 9 companies, including Shikoku Electric and Kansai Electric, are preparing to restart their 6 nuclear plants.

 AT THE TOKYO ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY MEETING, A GROUP OF ABOUT 450 SHAREHOLDERS WHO ARE OPPOSED TO NUCLEAR ENERGY SUBMITTED A LIST OF 9 PROPOSALS.

 THEY DEMANDED THAT THE COMPANY SCRAP NUCLEAR PLANTS IN FUKUSHIMA AND NIIGATA, AS WELL AS CUT THE SALARIES OF TEPCO EMPLOYEES AND BOARD MEMBERS. THEY ALSO WANT TO SLASH THE UTILITY'S CORPORATE PENSION.

 But their proposals were rejected by a majority of shareholders. Similar proposals made at other utilities' meetings were also rejected.

 The leader of TEPCO's anti-nuclear shareholders' group, Yui Kimura, said it is important to continue seeking to reform the company's corporate culture. She said shareholders bear responsibility for the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, and that, in this respect, they are different from shareholders at other companies.

Jun. 26, 2013 - Updated 07:20 UTC

TEPCO REJECTS ARBITRATION BODY'S COMPENSATION PLAN
 
The operator of the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant says it will not comply with a compensation proposal by a state arbitration body.

 Tokyo Electric Power Company has reportedly told a group of evacuees and their lawyers the settlement proposal goes against scientific knowledge.

 They sought compensation for anxiety about future health problems from radiation exposure.

 The Center for Settlement of Fukushima Nuclear Damage Claims recommended in May that the utility pay damages to about 190 former residents of a district in Iitate Village. The government declared the district uninhabitable over the long term because of radiation levels.

 The residents say officials issued the evacuation order more than one month after the March 2011 accident.

 It was the first time the state body had recommended compensation over health worries.

 But evacuees quoted TEPCO as telling them that the recommendation does not fit scientific knowledge about low-dose exposure and its health effects.

 The district's chief said TEPCO officials should consider what they would do if this happened to their relatives.

Jun. 26, 2013 - Updated 12:32 UTC

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