The state-authorized body that manages Japan's decommissioning funds recommended on the 6th that Chubu Electric Power Co. carry out preventive measures without fail, after the utility altered documents on the decommissioning costs of units 1 and 2 at the Hamaoka nuclear plant in Omaezaki, Shizuoka Prefecture. It is the first recommendation the body has issued since it began decommissioning work in 2024.
The body, the Nuclear Reprocessing and Decommissioning Promotion Organization, is based in Aomori and is known in Japanese as the 使用済燃料再処理・廃炉推進機構 (shiyōzumi nenryō saishori hairo suishin kikō). Chubu Electric said in a statement that it takes the recommendation seriously.
Major utilities that run nuclear plants pay into the organization according to how many reactors they operate. When decommissioning work is actually carried out, they submit work plans and other documents to the body and draw the necessary costs from their contributions.
Overstated billing
Chubu Electric drew up documents that did not match the actual progress of demolition work and billed the body for more decommissioning money than it was owed. According to the utility's own investigation, 16 of the 36 claims it filed in fiscal 2024 calculated payments to construction companies improperly, overstating the total by about ¥230 million.
The body asked Chubu Electric to settle promptly the fiscal 2024 decommissioning costs that were billed on the basis of the improper documents. How much the utility overbilled has not been finalized, and the settlement figure will be set after the individual claims are examined.