Tokyo Electric Power Company

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Incorporated (Japanese: 東京電力ホールディングス株式会社, Tōkyōdenryoku Hōrudingusu Kabushikigaisha, TEPCO, also known as Tōden (東電) in Japan) is a Japanese electric utility holding company servicing Japan's Kantō region, Yamanashi Prefecture, and the eastern portion of Shizuoka Prefecture.

[8] The Fukushima disaster displaced 50,000 households in the evacuation zone because of leaks of radioactive materials into the air, soil and sea.

[9] In July 2012, TEPCO received ¥1 trillion (US$12 billion) from the Japanese government in order to prevent collapse of the company to ensure electricity is still being supplied to Tokyo and its surrounding municipalities, and decommission the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

After the recovery period, the company had to expand its supply capacity to catch up with the country's rapid economic growth by developing fossil fuel power plants and a more efficient transmission network.

Recently, TEPCO is expected to play a key role in achieving Japan's targets for reduced carbon dioxide emissions under the Kyoto Protocol.

It also faces difficulties related to the trend towards deregulation in Japan's electric industry as well as low power demand growth.

', promoting all-electric housing in order to both achieve the more efficient use of its generation capacity as well as erode the market share of gas companies.

Tokyo Electric Power could face 2 trillion yen ($23.6 bln) in special losses in the current business year to March 2012 to compensate communities near its crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, according to JP Morgan.

[7] The company workers agreed to a management proposal to cut their pay as a sense of responsibility for the world's worst nuclear disaster.

Additionally, hydroelectric plants in the mountainous areas outside the Kanto Plain, despite their relatively small capacity compared to fossil fuel and nuclear generation, remain important in providing peak load supply.

For high-voltage supply to large buildings and factories, distribution lines are directly connected to customers' electricity systems.

Blackout frequency and average recovery time compares favorably with other electric companies in Japan as well as within other developed countries.

The company instituted its first-ever rolling blackouts[21] following the shutdown of the Fukushima I and II plants which were close to the epicenter of the March 2011 earthquake.

TEPCO's chairman Hiroshi Araki, President Nobuya Minami, Vice-President Toshiaki Enomoto, as well as the advisers Shō Nasu and Gaishi Hiraiwa stepped-down by September 30, 2002.

To meet demand, the company purchased electricity from competitors and restarted thermal power plants, resulting in significant additional oil and gas consumption.

[27][28] The Japanese government declared an "atomic power emergency" and evacuated thousands of residents living close to TEPCO's Fukushima I plant.

On 20 March, Japan's chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano "confirmed for the first time that the nuclear complex — with heavy damage to reactors and buildings and with radioactive contamination throughout — would be closed once the crisis was over.

One report noted that defense minister, Toshimi Kitazawa, on 21 March had committed "military firefighters to spray water around the clock on an overheated storage pool at Reactor No.

It was reported that seawater was used only after Prime Minister Naoto Kan ordered it following an explosion at one reactor the evening of 12 March, though executives had started considering it that morning.

The conclusion from the simulation in 2006 was, that a 13.5 meter wave would cause a complete loss of all power and would make it impossible to inject water into reactor No.5.

TEPCO failed in both cases to take advantage of this knowledge, and nothing was done to prevent such an event to happen, because the study sessions were conducted only as a training for junior employees, and the company did not really expect such large tsunamis.

Research conducted by the Yale School of Management categorized the company in the "Grade F" tier, labeled "Digging In," which denotes entities that have defied calls to exit or reduce operations in Russia.

[48] This decision has drawn criticism for undermining global efforts to isolate Russia economically and exert pressure to end its aggression.

[49] In March 2008, Tokyo Electric announced that the start of operation of four new nuclear power reactors would be postponed by one year due to the incorporation of new earthquake resistance assessments.

The largest pumped-storage plants are: Under the lead of an organization affiliated with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Tokyo Electric Power Company is working out next-gen car battery norms.

[54] Early June 2012 TEPCO announced that it would cancel all export of nuclear expertise abroad, because it needed to focus on the stabilisation of the damaged reactors in Fukushima.

According to Naomi Hirose, director of TEPCO, "Our atomic power engineers still need to do a lot more to stabilise and decommission the reactors" at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant, and: "It is impossible" to abandon the domestic task and promote exports.

TEPCO logo, in use from 1987 to March 2016
Three TEPCO aerial work platform trucks work together on utility poles, upgrading overhead power lines in Tokyo , Japan (video).
Three of the reactors at Fukushima I overheated, causing meltdowns that eventually led to explosions, which released large amounts of radioactive material into the air. [ 26 ]