Ten nuclear power plant operators in Japan said that it will cost about 1 trillion yen to bring them in compliance with government mandated safety standards. The government has laid down certain safety standards in disaster preparedness, which has to be followed by the nuclear power plant operators.
The final tab is expected to increase further, as the companies are yet to make an accurate estimate about the expenses which will be required to take measures against disasters. The utilities are not allowed to restart unless they meet the safety standards.
At present, 48 of the nation’s 50 nuclear reactors are offline. The Nuclear Regulation Authority had presented the new outline of safety standards in the month of January 2013. The authority has called on operators to take broad measures against the nuclear disasters and accidents.
However, some of the details of the new standards are yet to be determined, due to which the plant operators have not finalized the specifications of some safety measures. The ten companies have estimated the cost at 998.7 billion yen, for their 15 plants, excluding the crippled Fukushima No.1 plant and nearby No.2 plant. Both of these plants are operated by the Tokyo Electric Power Co. The cost of the plants mainly consist of expenses for emergency safety measures.
