Japan Press Weekly

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2014 June 25 - July 1 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

Major utilities face shareholder activism opposing nuclear power

Anti-nuke activist shareholders of nine utilities with nuclear power plants on June 26 proposed motions against atomic power generation at annual stockholder meetings of the power companies. All the motions were unsuccessful.

At the meeting of the Tokyo Electric Power Company, the operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi NPP, stockholders submitted ten proposals, such as a business plan revision to permanently shut down nuclear reactors.

The board of directors opposed them all on the ground that the Abe government in April adopted an energy plan which designates nuclear power as a main energy source. They unilaterally wound up discussion and forcibly took a vote to reject the proposals.

Shareholders of the Kansai Electric Power Company submitted 25 proposals at a general meeting to oppose nuclear power. The directors expressed their disapproval of all 25 proposals.

During the meeting, KEPCO expressed its intention to resume the operation of the Oi NPP after obtaining permission from the Nuclear Regulation Authority in defiance of the recent Fukui District Court ruling which orders that the NPP be kept offline.

The Kyushu Electric Power Company held its general meeting of shareholders in a Fukuoka hotel while an anti-nuke citizens’ group was protesting against reactivation of the utility’s Sendai NPP in front of the hotel. The stockholders’ five proposals were rejected, including decommissioning of reactors at the Sendai NPP in Kagoshima as well as withdrawal from the nuclear fuel cycle policy.

The president at the meeting said, “We will do our utmost to achieve an early restart of the reactors,” reaffirming his positive attitude toward the promotion of nuclear power generation.