New TEPCO chairman says restarting reactors essential for turnaround.

TOKYO, June 28 Kyodo

New Tokyo Electric Power Co. Chairman Kazuhiko Shimokobe on Thursday called for reactivation of the utility's idled nuclear reactors in Niigata Prefecture from next April as a "building block" in the company's turnaround plan compiled following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster.

A board member brought in from outside to lead the utility, which will be placed under state control in July, Shimokobe, in his first press conference as chairman, said reactivation of the reactors could not happen without local approval, but added there would be severe consequences if reactivation did not proceed as planned.

New Tokyo Electric President Naomi Hirose, who attended the press conference with Shimokobe, also said the company will remain engaged in projects to export nuclear power technology to other countries "to the extent it can," while there are constraints because many people are busy dealing with the accident-stricken plant.

The need to restart idled reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant was stipulated in a 10-year comprehensive special business plan for the utility known as TEPCO, which is financially struggling to compensate disaster victims and pay increasing fuel costs for thermal power generation while its nuclear reactors remain idled.

But the issue is sensitive in the country, where many people have become highly concerned about the safety of nuclear power, while Niigata Gov. Hirohiko Izumida has also opposed to the idea.

Hirose said TEPCO will study last year's Fukushima nuclear crisis, as requested by Izumida, so that it can take appropriate safety measures for the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant reactors.

Asked whether TEPCO would seek to become a company that would no longer rely on nuclear power generation, Shimokobe said he could not imagine such an outcome in the next five to 10 years.

Shimokobe and Hirose officially became chairman and president, respectively, at the board of directors meeting Wednesday, held after the annual shareholders' meeting.

Upon receiving 1 trillion yen of injection in public funds, the company will carry out various reforms, such as accepting a majority of directors from outside the company to increase management transparency. Hirose was promoted internally from managing director.