Nuclear Power and Fukushima Finances 4

Building Boxes, No Alternate Funding Source

In the late 1970s, the towns of Tomioka and Naraha went on a building spree. Recreation halls, lodging centers, roads, schools, sewers ... all built with "Electric Power Money." Tomioka and Naraha share Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Plant. Younger residents urged them to think 20 or 30 years in the future - but the office directing regional development using the grants didn't listen.

Nuclear Power and Fukushima Finances 3

Mutual Dependence & Mutual Profit


Over its 45-year lifespan, a nuclear power reactor will bring in about 121.5 billion yen (about $1.6 billion at 78 yen/dollar) in government subsidies to the prefecture and municipalities around its location. This funding system is deeply entwined in the region.

Nuclear Power and Fukushima Finances 2

Kakuei Tanaka and Money for Nuclear Power Plant Localities


In the Fall of 1972, then Fukushima Governor Kimura Morie approached Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei with a request. Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Reactor No 1 had been operating for two years, but the only income to its host locality was property taxes, a source of funds that would decline as the plant depreciated. To Governor Kimura, this was unfair. Prefectures and localities in which the plant's electricity was consumed reaped taxes on this consumption. 

Nuclear Power and Fukushima Finances 1

Fukushima Prefecture has decided to rid itself of nuclear power. But, being home to electrical power plants, notably nuclear power plants, is an important source of government funds. Under the Three Power Source Development Laws, localities that are home to electric power plants, particularly nuclear power plants receive grants and taxes based on the amount generated among other factors. They also tax nuclear fuel and receive property and income taxes.