Tokyo May Face Power Shortages By End Of June

Tokyo -- - The Tokyo metropolitan area may face serious power shortages as early as the end of June due to the shutdown of nuclear reactors operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) over a defect cover-up scandal, TEPCO officials report.

Concerns about a possible power outage in the Kanto region centering on Tokyo have grown since TEPCO shut down all of its 17 reactors for safety checks on April 15 following the cover-up scandal that emerged last August.

TEPCO restarted one of them Wednesday, following approval from local governments. Resumption of operations at the Niigata Prefecture reactor will give TEPCO about 1.36 megawatts of electricity.

But if the remaining 16 reactors remain shut down and temperatures are higher than usual in July and August, Japan's largest power company will fall short of 8.5 megawatts of electricity, the officials said.

TEPCO said it therefore needs to restart eight to 10 reactors to avert possible power shortages in summer, prompting the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) to join the chorus calling for resumption of operations at the suspended reactors before summer.

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Takeo Hiranuma indicated at a meeting of a task force established the same day to deal with the problem of power shortages that he may visit Niigata and Fukushima prefectures to win understanding from local people and concerned local governments for restarting suspended nuclear reactors in the prefectures.

Hiranuma said it is also important to resume operations at the other suspended reactors in order to ensure a stable power supply in summer, while ensuring the safety of the facilities.

In the meeting of the task force, METI decided to call on the public and industry to take energy-saving steps.

According to METI, demand for electricity usually peaks between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. in summer. The record for demand is 64.3 megawatts, registered at 2 p.m. on July 24, 2001.

But unless more reactors are restarted before summer, TEPCO is expected to produce up to around 60 megawatts at most, even if it takes all possible steps such as activation of thermal power plants on trial runs, METI officials said.

In an attempt to prevent such a gap between demand and supply in summer, METI said it will call on businesses and the public to shift power consumption from peak time as much as possible.

From TEPCO, the ministry will also ask for additional efforts to further increase power supply capacity, the officials said.

TEPCO said it will purchase tens of thousands of kilowatts of electricity from East Japan Railway Co., boost output at thermal power plants and postpone regular safety checkups at such plants as part of its efforts to boost power supply capacity.

With these steps, the power company will be able to increase its power supply by 3.9 to 4.1 megawatts of electricity from June to August, the officials said.

METI will also carry out its own energy-saving plan, including a drastic reduction in the use of elevators and lights in its headquarters building, the officials said, adding it will ask other government organizations to take similar steps.

Meanwhile, the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) said the same day it will conduct a survey on the economic impact of possible continuous power outages in the summer.