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2011 June 22 - 28 TOP3 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

Tax hike or higher electricity bills unnecessary for disaster compensation: business think-tank

A nonprofit corporation’s proposal that compensation for damages caused by the Fukushima nuclear accident can be paid to evacuees and people in agricultural, forestry, and fishery industries without an increase either in taxes or in electricity charges is now the focus of attention.

The Japan Center for Economic Research (JCER) on April 25 published a report entitled “Redesigning Japanese economy, beyond disaster and under restrictions on energy.”

Estimating that a minimum of 6 trillion yen will be needed to bring the nuclear reactor accident under control, the report suggests that the reserve and net asset of Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the crippled plant, as well as part of the national budget on nuclear energy be used for handling the crisis.

To be specific, the report suggests that TEPCO, first of all, should use 3.7 trillion yen allotted for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel and for surplus profits.

The report then calls for a freeze on public research on fast-breeder nuclear reactors and on the nuclear fuel cycle (which will save 200 billion yen a year) and a freeze of operations of the reprocessing plant for spent nuclear fuel at Rokkasho Village (which will liberate part of the 12 trillion yen to be saved by the electric power industry for reprocessing costs).

The report states that these arrangements are possible only by reviewing the existing system, and that the 12 trillion yen is like buried money linked to nuclear energy. Then the report proclaims, “There is no need to either increase taxes or raise electricity rates to fund the cost for the handling of the accident.”

The JCER in its June bulletin carries a paper by Fukao Mitsuhiro, JCER trustee and senior research fellow, titled “TEPCO and compensation for nuclear power accident victims.”

The paper states, “Before discussing governmental aid, TEPCO must remember that it has an enormous sum of funds at hand.” Citing the TECO consolidated balance sheet at the end of 2010, the paper points out that 1.2 trillion yen is reserved for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel in the future and 700 billion yen is also reserved for decommissioning nuclear reactors. It says, “By withdrawing a portion of the reserves for reprocessing, TEPCO can pay out compensation to the victims.”

JCER is a private research institute established in 1963. It is a members-only nonprofit corporation. As of May 15, it has 316 organizations as members, including the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren, or JBF), the Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai), a number of large corporations, and local municipalities. TEPCO and other electric power companies are also members. Its board has TEPCO Counselor Minami Naoya, Ex-Keidanren President and Canon President Mitarai Fujio and Hasegawa Yasuchika as directors.