Tepco’s Rebuilding Still Far from Complete; Effects of 2011 Fukushima Accident Still Hang over Firm’s Head 15 Years Later

By Hiroyuki Kume / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

2:00 JST, March 11, 2026

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. is still groping for ways to rebuild itself, even as Wednesday marks the 15th anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 that caused the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

“Our basic focus is on fulfilling our responsibility to Fukushima. No matter how high the hurdles might be, we must overcome them,” TEPCO President Tomoaki Kobayakawa said in an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun.

After the accident, TEPCO was effectively nationalized, and the government took on responsibility for the decommissioning of damaged facilities.

In January, TEPCO received government approval for its restructuring plan; the company is now seeking firms to partner with.

The government estimates the costs of dealing with the accident, including those of decommissioning nuclear reactors, decontamination and paying compensation for damage caused by the accident, will total ¥23.4 trillion, of which TEPCO is expected to shoulder about ¥17 trillion.

However, these figures could rise since full-scale removal of nuclear fuel debris, which is the most difficult step in the decommissioning process, has not yet started, and the work may not proceed smoothly.

TEPCO reported an extraordinary loss of ¥905.6 billion due to decommissioning costs for the fiscal year ending March, and it expects to report a net loss of ¥641 billion in its consolidated financial results for the fiscal year.

The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture, whose reactor No. 6 restarted operations in January, is expected to be a key source of revenue to cover these massive costs. The power plant is expected to start commercial operation by the end of March, with each reactor that comes online boosting TEPCO’s annual earnings by ¥100 billion.

The company also aims to restart reactor No. 7 at the same plant by the end of fiscal 2029.

The restructuring plan, however, predicts that even restarting the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant “will not lead to fundamental improvement of [the company’s] financial structure.” TEPCO is seeking to sell ¥200 billion in assets within three years and exploring further growth areas.

TEPCO is looking for business partners at a time when a significant increase in electricity demand is anticipated from the data centers that will be needed for developing and operating generative artificial intelligence systems. The firm is expected to announce its next step after the deadline for applications for partnerships passes at the end of this month.

There is also a growing possibility that the company will restart construction of its Higashidori nuclear plant in Aomori Prefecture. The facility was planned to be built on a site of about 4.5 million square meters along the coast of the Shimokita Peninsula, in a location that is currently heavily wooded. The village mayor of Higashidori and others strongly called for an early restart to the construction to boost regional development.