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Japan faces severe losses over delays at nuclear plant

The company that runs the nuclear power plant severely damaged by a magnitude 6.8 earthquake in northwestern Japan said yesterday it was still estimating damage 10 days after the temblor and did not know when it could reopen.

The Mainichi Shimbun reported yesterday that a delay in resuming operations at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture -- the world's largest nuclear power facility -- could result in ?200 billion (US$1.66 billion) losses for the fiscal year ending in March next year.

The losses at Tokyo Electric Power, which runs the plant, would arise because it might be forced to restart oil and gas plants, which are less cost-efficient than nuclear power plants, the report said.

TEPCO was still assessing the damage from the July 16 quake and did not yet know how much the shutdown would cost, company spokesman Jun Oshima said yesterday.

The company has also not yet decided when the plant, which has been shuttered since the deadly quake, will resume operations, Oshima said, adding that it was considering restarting its oil and gas plants.

News reports on Wednesday cited the head of a government-appointed panel investigating quake damage at the plant as saying it could take at least a year before the plant will reopen.

The earthquake July 16 struck off the coast of Niigata, about 19km from the epicenter. It killed 11 people and injured more than 1,000.

TEPCO has came under fire for being too slow in notifying the public about quake damage at the plant, including radioactive water sloshing out of a tank and into the sea, and radioactive material venting into the air.

TEPCO has also said that parts of a 6m crane inside the reactor building at one of the facility's seven reactors had been mangled -- the first damage to be found so close to a reactor.

Oshima said officials would conduct more detailed inspections at three of the six other reactor buildings yesterday.

Work to repair the plant will not likely begin before the arrival of officials from the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency, who are expected to inspect the plant in the next few weeks.

In order to make up for a power shortage caused by the shutdown, six other power companies have agreed to provide emergency electricity on TEPCO's request.

Also yesterday, Greenpeace said its own inspections on Friday confirmed the level of radiation near the reactors did not surpass the normal level.

The environmental group urged the government to thoroughly investigate the plant.
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