Wednesday, September 7, 2011

TEPCO to Pay 2.4 Billion Yen Into Nuclear Damages Support Organization

The Japanese government is set to set up the Nuclear Damage Support Organization ( 原子力損害賠償支援機構) this week, Yomiuri Shinbun reports (9/7/2011). The law to create the Organization was passed on August 3.

The Organization is basically an insurance scheme for the nation's electric power companies and government corporations that operate nuclear power plants, whereby the companies pay into the scheme to get it started and will pay annual premiums in return for the payment out of the scheme in case of a nuclear accident that will require compensating the victims.

The 12 companies including 9 electric power companies (except for Okinawa Electric that doesn't have a nuclear power plant) will pay in total of 7 billion yen (US$90 million) with TEPCO paying the largest share of 2.4 billion yen (US$31 million), and the national government will match 7 billion yen. So the total amount to be paid into the Organization will be 14 billion yen (US$181 million).

The amount of annual premium is yet to be fully decided.

If the amount of compensation exceeds the money paid into the Organization, the government (i.e. Japanese taxpayers) will pick up the tab.

So far, TEPCO has paid out 112 billion yen (as of August 31) as "temporary" compensation ( to be settled later with receipts). Increase in fuel costs for this year is estimated to be 700 billion yen.

All the cost for "decontamination" of the affected areas will be billed to TEPCO (i.e. taxpayers). In Iitate-mura, Fukushima Prefecture alone, the decontamination project is estimated to cost 200 billion yen for the village of about 6,000 residents.

Many Japanese people highly approve of the scheme, thinking now the victims will be fully compensated. What they may not be aware is that the victims will be fully compensated on their dimes (or yen).

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

How many new radiation casualty hospitals will be built?

Anonymous said...

poors pay, victims pay, and every others citizen pay for the failure of one Corporation,as often.
We did it for the economical crisis, we did it for the nuclear crisis
WHY GE, AREVA, and others are not asked to pay ???????????????????
Because they made the most secure power plant in the World, and because their fuels are the best in the world.!!!
yes, shareholders, that's their truth

Sometime, we will all need to take a shotgun, and they will say the real truth.
it's sad to think about it, but what democratic solution have we ???
I hope government will understand that the fact to spare/hide/dig nuclear waste for 100 000 years is not an answer.
But they don't seem to understand it, for now.
May be a real big Chernobyl incident in USA will change their mind ?
Because,if it is in Japan, they don't care at all.
myfutureisnow on twitter

Anonymous said...

Perhaps Japan should of considered that they live on an Island near all kinds of fault zones that are more prone to earthquakes and thus tsunami's. Knowing that they should of prepared for a worst case scenario and forced the nuclear plants on the coasts to go out of their way to build up a defense for a situation like that. Otherwise its just a countdown of the clock to when an accident happens.

Anonymous said...

The nuclear industry goes to great lengths to ignore the financial fallout their industry can cause. If nuclear power was truly safe they wouldn't need to make their own insurance pool because insurance actuaries would see an insurable endeavor. A Price Anderson type insurance scheme is a glaring example of the crutches that the nuclear industry absolutely needs to get along in the world. If the nuclear industry had to pay their own way they'd be out of business within a year. Most people in the US don't even know that Price Anderson was only supposed to be a temporary 10 year crutch to get the industry on it's feet. This "temporary" measure has been renewed ever 10 years since 1957 the industry has become so dependent on this crutch that they had it extended for 25 years during the last re-authorization.

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