Tepco president quits as firm reports $15bn loss

[4me2]

Tepco president quits as firm reports $15bn loss




Mr Shimizu's resignation had been widely expected



The president of Tepco, which operates the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, has resigned as the firm reported a loss of 1.25tn yen ($15.3bn; £9.4bn) for the past financial year.
Masataka Shimizu will be replaced by managing director Toshio Nishizawa.
Tepco's loss is a record for a non-financial firm in the country.
The earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on 11 March severely damaged the Fukushima plant and it has been leaking radiation ever since.
Mr Shimizu spoke to a packed news conference at its headquarters in Tokyo with Mr Nishizawa standing to his left.
"I wanted to take managerial responsibility and bring a symbolic close," said Mr Shimizu.
"We put the highest importance on experience and expertise in our business operations when we chose the person for the top post," he added.
His resignation had been widely expected.


Record loss

The net loss of 1.25tn yen is the biggest in Japan's corporate history outside the financial sector. In the previous financial year, the company had reported a profit of 134bn yen.
However, overall losses from the disaster are expected to be much bigger.
Thousands of people have been evacuated from the region around the nuclear plant, and the company has been charged with cleaning up the problem and paying compensation to the victims.
According to Bank of America Merrill Lynch, total compensation claims could reach as much as 11tn yen.
Last Friday, the government announced a plan to create an entity to help Tepco compensate the victims of the nuclear crisis.
Authorities have also been studying possible bail-outs, including using contributions from other utilities and taxpayer money.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13465692

[4me2]

I'm not sure that I think this is right.

To me it looks like one man is being held accountable for a Tsunami and the resulting damages it has caused.

Have these people never heard of King Canute ?

http://dovemountaineers.blogspot.com...ng-canute.html

[flumperino]

Agreed, it sounds harsh.

Still, will give him some good pub talk. Not many people can say "I lost a trillion dolla!"

[GTI]

Hands up who also thought this was a story about Tesco's?

Spoiler:

What with 4me2's usual dodgy spelling

[tronads]

/puts hand up.....in fact I was going to reply that its because we raped them on their double the difference pledge.

[Over Carl]

I'm not sure that I think this is right.

To me it looks like one man is being held accountable for a Tsunami and the resulting damages it has caused.

Plant could have been built in better location, could have been built stronger, could have given the "50" adequate safety equipment, actually put appropriate efforts into containment.....
It's a cock up of epic proporations and it's a refreshing change for the man in charge to take responsiblity rather than dump it on a scapegoat. Look at this country and Fred the Shred ffs.

Guessing this may be due to the Japanese having a strong sense of honour.

[Thrush]

In regards to nuclear power there have been plenty of fuck ups over the years. One that springs to mind is when they had a leak and didn't report it to the government.

At various points in the reactors life suggestions were made in regards to improvements, but I can't think of one company that is willing to sacrifice profit for safety.

As for the losses, it could be a zillion billion yen and it wouldn't matter, the Japanese government will cover it; which actually means the public's pension bonds and savings will cover it.

[cassy34]

Please ignore this comment

[Thrush]

I want to have his babies

I can see why you edited your post. Weirdo!

[super mike]

Plant could have been built in better location, could have been built stronger, could have given the "50" adequate safety equipment, actually put appropriate efforts into containment.....
It's a cock up of epic proporations and it's a refreshing change for the man in charge to take responsiblity rather than dump it on a scapegoat. Look at this country and Fred the Shred ffs.

Guessing this may be due to the Japanese having a strong sense of honour.

Considering the plant took a massive earthquake, plus all the other ones previously and then was hit by an enourmously devastating tsunami that no one could have forseen I think it shows how safe nuclear power actually is. The major let down was not having the back up generator on stilts.

But I still thought it was about Tesco.

[Over Carl]

They build wobbly scyscrapers round them ways because they know the risk of seismic activity.

When you are playing with the whole world's safety to generate profit there should be no potential of error.

[Over Carl]

Got me thinking, only governments should be allowed to run nuclear plants as they are the only people with the resources to handle a disaster.

[super mike]

They build wobbly scyscrapers round them ways because they know the risk of seismic activity.

When you are playing with the whole world's safety to generate profit there should be no potential of error.

It's not the whole world's safety, you're being purposely melodramatic. A disaster it would be, however unless there was sabotage anything along the lines of Chernobyl won't happen again.

Got me thinking, only governments should be allowed to run nuclear plants as they are the only people with the resources to handle a disaster.

Fuck that, could you imagine any of our last three governments running a nuclear power plant? They can't even get the DVLA right. That's just silly.