Japanese prime minister, Naoto Kan, requested the Chubu Electric Power company close one of its plants when government experts warned the seismically active region could have an 8.0 earthquake within thirty years. Naturally, the board of Chubu Electric “agonized” over the loss of potential profits but eventually human life and property won the tug of war, for now.
Board members at Chubu Electric Power had initially failed to reach a decision at a meeting on Saturday, a day after Naoto Kan, Japan’s prime minister, asked the operator to close the plant, citing quake and tsunami risks in the region. Local reports said that executives had debated the financial losses that would result from closing the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant, as well as the power shortages that might result from losing a major source of power in the region.
But the operator decided to obey the government request, an “agonizing decision” for the company, Akihisa Mizuno, president and chief executive at Chubu Electric, told a press conference Monday.
“The request from the prime minister is one that carries a lot of weight, and which is based on growing public concern over nuclear power in the wake of the serious accident at Fukushima,” Mr. Mizuno told reporters.
Naturally the utility asked the government for assistance “to help avoid or lessen” the impact on its shareholders. Surely, if the shareholders had been properly informed from the beginning they would have understood the risks they were taking and should weather the folly of their own investment choices.
