ALERTS!!!!

“The number of children and grandchildren with cancer in their bones, with leukemia in their blood, or with poison in their lungs might seem statistically small to some, in comparison with natural health hazards. But this is not a natural health hazard—and it is not a statistical issue. The loss of even one human life, or the malformation of even one baby—who may be born long after we are gone—should be of concern to us all. Our children and grandchildren are not merely statistics toward which we can be indifferent.”

John F. Kennedy, July 26th, 1963

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Japan approves Fukushima operator's revival plan

FROM: REUTERS

By Mari Saito and Kentaro Hamada
TOKYO, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Japan's trade ministry on Wednesday approved a revival plan for the utility responsible for the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Tokyo Electric Power Co , its second attempt at restoring its battered finances.
The plan hinges on Tokyo Electric (Tepco) restarting its Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear plant to cut fossil fuel costs, a contentious undertaking staunchly opposed by the local governor.

An earlier plan by Tepco outlining a revival after its Fukushima plant was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011, triggering triple meltdowns at the site, had to be torn up because it could not restart Kashiwazaki.

"As for the restart of Kashiwazaki Kariwa ... this is simply an assumption built into the financial plan," industry minister Toshimitsu Motegi said as he gave formal approval of the plan to Tepco President Naomi Hirose.
The previous revival plan revolved around a Kashiwazaki restart in early 2013. The new plan envisages a restart of two reactors at the station in July.

Motegi and Hirose said there may be a time lag between the plan's assumption and any restarts.
The recovery of Fukushima prefecture, dealing with compensation for those who lost homes and businesses and decommissioning the damaged plant are national priorities, Motegi told Hirose.

"Tepco will throw all available resources at taking responsibility for Fukushima. We will compensate every last person and the company has many things to do in order for residents to return quickly," Hirose said.
The company, which is majority owned by the government after an earlier bailout, said in the plan it may increase electricity prices if there are long delays in the restart schedule.

The new plan sees deeper cost cuts and more staff reductions than in the previous version. Tepco says it is aiming to report recurring profit of 167.7 billion yen ($1.62 billion)in the year through March 2015.

Tepco said it would seek savings on fuel purchases of 650 billion yen annually by buying supplies in partnership with other companies.

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