After being essentially nationalized as a result of the Fukushima explosion, and following years of denial finally admitting that TEPCO has lost control of the clean up effort of the Fukushima nuclear power plant [6] corpse, one would think Tokyo Electric Power Company may have second thoughts about installing additional capacity around ground zero. One would be wrong [7].
Tokyo Electric Power Company will build 2 advanced coal-fired power plants in Fukushima. The utility says it wants to contribute to the prefecture's recovery from the nuclear disaster.
The same prefecture, mind you, that TEPCO's reckless disregard for safety standards and abject avoidance of repeated warnings about the potential threats to the Dai-Ichi NPP, was made into a ghost town. Very kind of TEPCO, three years after the explosion, to spend government money to "contribute to a recovery" from a disaster it created.
TEPCO's Fukushima headquarters chief announced the project on Friday. Yoshiyuki Ishizaki said the coal-fired power generation systems will be built on the compounds of 2 existing power plants in Iwaki City and Hirono Town. Ishizaki said the planned facilities will use both gas and heat from coal to achieve the world's highest level of power-generating efficiency.
Each facility will have a capacity of 500 megawatts and will be operational by the early 2020s.
TEPCO says the project will create up to 2,000 construction jobs per day, and its total economic benefit to the region will amount to 1.5 billion dollars.
Ishizaki said Japan has the top-of-the-line coal gasification technology. He added TEPCO will make sure the investment won't affect nuclear compensation payments or delay the decommissioning of its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
What could possibly go wrong, besides everything of course. Then again, after providing infinite ammo for the anti-nuke lobby, it is only fair that in 7 years (assuming it is not a province of China by then), Tepco does everything in its power to crush the supporters of coal-power as well.