Plan calls for TEPCO to be nationalized for at least 10 years

“Nothing has been decided up to date.”

Ms. Iwashita, wake up and smell the coffee.

Once TEPCO starts to generate net profits, the company is expected to be urged to pay back the financial assistance, Kyodo quoted sources as saying

Repay over $55 BILLION. LOL. Good luck with that. Residents in Japan will be carrying this burden for decades.

Once TEPCO starts to generate net profits, the company is expected to be urged to pay back the financial assistance

PrePrepared loophole from the very first media release.

Taxpayers Yen to pay for Compensation to victims. Taxpayers Yen to refit the Plants BACK TO PRODUCTION. Taxpayers PAY increased electricity costs.

Nobody jailed for Criminal Negligence.

And as soon as Money Loss is done, the clowns that started this mess slink back in on the gravy train.

Business as usual for Japan Inc

So, so sad...

Still not sure why releases about TEPCO and the government's handling of the nuclear crisis are not under the Crime heading on this site?

TEPCO should be nationalised, the share price set to zero, the stock delisted and the management fired. This should have been done last April.

Instead, after one year of lies and inept management by all concerned, all this plan seems to do is to give TEPCO public funds and let them carry on as before.

Bad move on the part of the Japanese Govt. Also the headline is just misleading.. "for at least 10 years" this will obviously turn out to be one big lie as the company will never go private. Even then now the company will not be profitable in Govt hands, which means its gonna have to be bailed out on a continuous basis by tax payers. Worst still, a nationalized TEPCO will undoubtedly be MUCH less efficient now.

The operator of Japan’s crippled nuclear power plant will be effectively nationalized for at least 10 ...

Effectively??!

Just take it over and be done with it. I am sick of my tax money going to pay the salary of the fat cats that caused this in the first place.

The only way Tepco is going black is by overcharging people while putting everybody in constant danger for decades without any competition or control. Tepco equals North Korea!

Just take and delist the damn thing, the infrastructure isn't going to disappear is smoke! Break it apart, sell it to responsible people who are willing to create actual competition, get true freedom and capitalism finally to Japan also! This dictatorial communism of Tepco is not going to help anybody. Tepco's decades long streak of industrial and nuclear accidents will continue if allowed.

That last line by Megumi Iwashita summarizes TEPCO and the J-Gov in its entirety.

So let me just make sure I understand this - they have screwed us over, and now we are going to be paying them for the privilege of having been screwed over. Is that right?!

the company is expected to be urged to pay back the financial assistance,

?!?!?! How about "legally bound to"

if it's not an asset sale then Japanese will effectively be paying for TEPCO's mistakes through their own taxes. What an incredible insult. Media will tell Japanese what a great deal this is??? Another insult.

TEPCO and the old boys network has to come down.

TEPCO is for all practical purposes already a ward of the state.

After reading all the comments, I have to agree! Will what the people think make any difference? It never has and until the takers are no more, it never will!

Nobody jailed for Criminal Negligence. Still not sure why releases about TEPCO and the government's handling of the nuclear crisis are not under the Crime heading on this site?

I agree. The followings are the list of suspicions by the government, the judiciary, the mainstream media, and TEPCO.

I don't know why vise president Muto and the plant manager Yoshida are not pressed charges. TEPCO made its 2008 assessment based on the premise that an earthquake of the same magnitude as the Meiji Sanriku Earthquake (M8.3), Jogan Earthquake (M8.4). The assessment was reported to Muto and Yoshida. But they ignored it.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110826005191.htmhttp://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20111226/t10014925461000.html

Journalist Takeshi Hirose had pressed criminal charges against 32 people including TEPCO management and Monka-sho officials. This event was never covered in mainstream media (that I know of), and the follow up story is gone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt1p-tftdaU

When TEPCO was sued by Nihonmatsu Golf Club, they said, "Radioactive materials that scattered and fell from the plant belong to individual landowners there, not TEPCO" The district court freed TEPCO from responsibility for decontamination work, saying the cleanup efforts should be done by the central and local governments. In other words, taxpayers' money.

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201111240030

The Fukui prefectural police department had an investigation into yakiniku chain restaurant Foods forus Co.'s suspicion of negligence resulting in the food poisoning. Why haven't the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office searched TEPCO Tokyo office for suspicion of cover-up and putting people's health at risk.

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105020106.html

Under the Anti-gang Ordinance, all businesses have to sever ties with yakuza. If a local caterer, for example, delivers bento to Yakuza office, they will be punished. If TEPCO sends electricity to Yakuza office buildings, they should be punished, too. Why isn't TEPCO punished yet while still sending service to Yakuza.

http://kazuogu.cocolog-nifty.com/samenaiuchini/2011/12/some.html

Why doesn't anyone press criminal charges against Edano? He had the result of SPEEDI (at least by March 17), but he didn't open it to the public until May. Many people including babies, toddlers, and teenagers were exposed to high level of radiation.

Edano only allowed freelance internet news journalists and foreign media to attend the press conference once a week on Friday. The Mayor of Minami-Soma City asked for help through YouTube. The people were cold and hungry. People in the devastated areas did not have TVs. Their only reliable source was internet news, twitter, facebook. But still, Edano didn't allow internet news journalists to attend press conference regularly. He made a number of people's lives at risk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70ZHQ--cK40

@Moderator, I'm sorry that I posted some off topic comments and links, but I personally think they are all relevant and people should know how they are related and corrupt. I would appreciate it very much if you do not remove my post. Thank you.

TEPCO has enjoyed privatized profits and now wants to nationalize its debt. Despicable.

If I had the right to vote, I would contact my MP and demand nationalization only be agreed to if the people responsible for flouting the safety laws and foisting this whole tragedy and crisis upon the country are pursued with the full vigour of the law and face charges in court.

Great post Blair!

Sounds like a good plan.

I hope our taxes don't get raised because of this

So the gray foxes will take charge of the hen house from the red ones. I don't see that anything will change.

This move will somehow improve operations?!

Wow, a corrupt company being handed over to a corrupt government. THAT's gonna work out well.

You guys seem surprised. Just cause it wasn't nationalized on paper doesn't mean it wasn't nationalized in some star chamber behind closed doors. All of you should know better. Mirai, as far as taxes go they are about to raise the price of EVERYTHING.

You know, ever since Fukushima's Nuclear Meltdown (TEPCO said the radiation belongs to the citizens) there's one word that I just don't hear often enough. That word is Fallout....this is it. They want to raise taxes, connect TEPCO and move assets in order to keep things just the way they are. YOU....sitting there at your PC....you are going to pay for it.

I really want to say I told ya so....but I'm going to hold to it for the douchebag event of 2012. By the end of this year I bet they will claim Fukushima is fit to be reopened. It's all part of the plan. It's going to be the citizens of Japan's worst nightmare for not telling their boss to shove it and getting out there to protest.

They'll never rally like the level we saw with SOPA.

Back to square one...TEPCO is balied out and no charges againt it..no heads rolling. what changes is that this is done with tax payers money. (1) TEPCO should not write business plan because of conflict of interest and people dont expect much from its business plan. business plan should be done by independent party. (2) Some heads should be seen to roll in TEPCO. The silence around criminilizing TEPCO is defening and suspect!