The reason for the jump is given in the Yomiuri article in the morning of May 14, 2013 (part):
安倍首相は１３日の参院予算委員会で、福島第一原子力発電所の事故を起こした東京電力に対して、「（賠償や廃炉などの問題）すべてを東電に押しつけるのは間違っている。国がしっかりと前面に出て、取るべき責任を果たす」と述べた。
In the Upper House Budget Committee on May 13, Prime Minister Abe said about TEPCO who caused the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident, "It's wrong to foist (all the problems like compensations and decommissioning) on TEPCO. The national government will step forward to fulfill its responsibility."
30-Day free trial by following the link.
Tokyo Time
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](http://www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/gold/t24_au_en_usoz_2.gif)
7 comments:
"The national government will step forward ..." - great, as if it were this self-contained entity with its own financial resources. Translation: "The average Joe will pay with his/her taxes for Tepco's gi-normous [pardon the language] fuck-up."
I would love to hear a rational explanation - better yet, a legal one - why it is so wrong to have those responsible for the damage held solely accountable.
*mscharisma*
Nuclear plants are there because of their relationship to nuclear weapons, therefore I tend to agree that the country, namely the ministry of defense, should be helping with the clean up etc.
What I do not understand is why profits from nuclear generation are handed over to the utilities, their shareholders and bondholders...
Beppe
Beppe, that's pretty much my gripe as well. Profits are privatized, financial burdens are shared with the public. How can that be right?
*mscharisma*
How can that be right? Because that's how it's been done for centuries.
Let's hope that this foreshadows the removal of TEPCO from management of the clean-up. They have absolutely no incentive to do everything that is needed, and they have long had a culture of cost cutting at the expense of safety. No way they should be leading this. ANYONE else would do a better job.
Anon at 5:18PM, don't hold your breath. Besides, you may be in for a surprise on your last sentence...
Aside from right or wrong, nuclear industry is cooking the books in a way that makes Lehman look amateurish: risk is shouldered by taxpayers, nuclear waste cost is paid out of taxes and health of future generations, subsidies come from METI rather than defense, profits are guaranteed (albeit this is a Japanese peculiarity), costs are inflated...
Beppe
Post a Comment