Saturday, June 30, 2012

Japanese utilities keep nuclear option


Good news from Japan: 

Japan's nine nuclear power utilities have rejected calls from some of their shareholders to reduce or even eliminate the use of nuclear energy. Tokyo Electric Power Co's (Tepco's) shareholders approved a ¥1 trillion ($12.5 billion) injection of state funds which effectively nationalizes the company.

The nine utilities each held general shareholders' meetings on 27 June in the respective regions. They all faced numerous questions from their shareholders about their position on phasing out the use of nuclear power plants as well as concerns about the resumption of operations of their reactors. Some shareholders also called for plans for new reactors to be dropped. However, all shareholder proposals were voted down at each of the meetings, the Asahi Shimbun.

Some 4500 shareholders attended Tepco's meeting in a gymnasium in Tokyo, which lasted about five-and-a-half hours. During the meeting, shareholders voted against a proposal for the company to permanently shut down its seven-unit Kashiwazaki Kariwa plant in Niigata prefecture, replacing them with advanced gas-turbine generators. However, the company is relying on the restart of those reactors to help improve its profitability.

Utilities reject calls to abandon nuclear

As long as they need power, they'll realize they need nuclear.

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