Costs for safety measures necessary to restart Japan's idle nuclear reactors following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster ballooned to over 6.09 trillion yen ($44.3 billion) in January, according to 11 major power companies in the country.
As some companies have not yet included costs related to implementing anti-terrorism measures in their calculations, required under stricter regulations introduced in 2013 following the nuclear accident that occurred on March 11, 2011, the total amount is expected to increase further.
The costs involve safety measures for 15 nuclear power stations and consist of both expenses already used and those expected in the future. As of January 2022, they totaled 5.78 trillion yen.
Over a one-year period through January this year, safety costs increased by 230 billion yen at the No. 2 unit in Tohoku Electric Power Co.'s Onagawa plant in Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, and by 80 billion yen at Chugoku Electric Power Co.'s Shimane nuclear plant in western Japan.
The Onagawa No. 2 unit and the Shimane No. 2 unit have already cleared safety screenings by the country's nuclear regulator, the Nuclear Regulation Authority, with construction work necessary to restart them under way after gaining local consent.
The cost of safety measures for the Onagawa No. 2 unit totals 710 billion yen, more than double the roughly 300 billion yen spent to build it.
Nearly 12 years ago, a massive earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan, causing nuclear meltdowns at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s Fukushima Daiichi plant in Fukushima Prefecture after reactor cooling functions were lost.
The nuclear regulator has since obliged utilities to enhance measures against earthquakes and tsunamis, as well as implement anti-terrorism steps.
Additional measures and construction work required to fulfill the regulator's safety requirements have driven up safety costs for electricity firms.
Hokkaido Electric Power Co. and Tokyo Electric provided figures identical to amounts stated in the past, saying they were still in the process of determining the full extent of the latest costs.
Initial estimates of the costs for meeting the safety requirements for the 11 companies had totaled 2.73 trillion yen, instead of the over 6 trillion yen figure now projected.
The utility companies applied for safety inspections by the Nuclear Regulation Authority on a total of 27 reactors between 2013 and 2018. Of the 17 that cleared the inspections, 10 have been restarted.
Amid high oil prices, caused in part by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has instructed the government to look into how the country can get the most out of its nuclear energy facilities.
Japan has set a nuclear power generation target of providing 20 to 22 percent of electricity and 36 to 38 percent through renewable energy by fiscal 2030 in an effort to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
