New Tokyo Electric Power Co. Chairman Kazuhiko Shimokobe on Thursday called for reactivation of the utility's idled reactors in Niigata Prefecture from next April as a "building block" in the firm's turnaround plan that resulted from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant disaster.
A board member brought in from outside to lead the utility, which will be placed under state control in July, Shimokobe, in his first press conference as chairman, said restarting the reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant could not happen without local approval, but added there would be severe consequences if reactivation did not proceed as planned.
New Tepco President Naomi Hirose, who attended the press conference with Shimokobe, also said the utility will remain engaged in projects to export nuclear power technology to other countries "to the extent it can," while there are constraints because many people are busy dealing with the accident-stricken plant.