Individual Shareholders of Japan Nuclear Power Plants Want Reduced Reliance on Nuke Energy – Report
Individual shareholders of Japan's nuclear power plants want the government to review the country's current energy mix to rely less on nuclear energy, a report by the Asahi Shimbun said.
Shareholders of Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) want the company to evaluate and examine its Comprehensive Special Business Plan.
The report noted individual shareholders of Japan's nine electric utilities with nuclear power plants had also submitted proposals to strengthen their call ahead of the June 26 annual general shareholders' meetings of the power companies.
It was the first time that individual shareholders joined in the fray to push for a withdrawal of Japan's dependence on nuclear power.
However, Asahi Shimbun believed their calls for major changes in policy would fall on deaf ears. These individual shares, when gathered, make up only a small number of total shares.
The bulk of the nine electric utilities' shareholders belong to financial institutions and other corporate entities.
Moreover, each of the nine electric utilities had laid down plans to restart their respective nuclear power plants based on the government's basic energy plan which described nuclear power as an "important base-load power source."
TEPCO wants to restart the operations of its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture in July. Its shareholders blasted the Tokyo metropolitan government for not making a stand.
The Tokyo metropolitan government holds a 1.2 per cent stake in TEPCO.
"It is the central government that decides what to do about TEPCO," the Asahi Shimbun quoted an unidentified Tokyo government official. "(The Tokyo government) won't be making any proposals as a shareholder."
Whereas with the government of Osaka city government, top shareholder of Kansai Electric Power Co., it urged the utility to rely more on renewable energy sources and natural gas-fired thermal power.