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The estimated total cost of bringing plants into compliance with current standards sits at roughly 4.8 trillion yen ($44.2 billion), according to a Nikkei survey of nine of the 10 big regional electricity providers along with Japan Atomic Power and Electric Power Development. The survey excluded Okinawa Electric Power, which has no nuclear capacity.
In January 2013, the utilities had pegged the cost of safety measures at just 900 billion yen. About six months later the Nuclear Regulation Authority -- the country's nuclear watchdog -- imposed some of the world's toughest safety standards to prevent a recurrence of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, triggered by an earthquake and tsunamis.
These requirements are poised to drive up the cost of nuclear power generation. In 2015, the government estimated that nuclear energy would cost as little as 10.3 yen per kilowatt-hour to generate in 2030 -- less than coal at 12.9 yen, or solar at 12.5 to 16.4 yen.
But the price of nuclear rises by 1 yen per kilowatt-hour for every 100 billion yen that safety-related expenses add to the cost of a new reactor. Meanwhile, solar and wind have become cheaper, dropping below 10 yen per kilowatt-hour in a growing number of cases overseas and even becoming competitive with nuclear in certain areas."
The total costs to implement government-mandated safety measures, maintain facilities and decommission commercially operated nuclear power plants in Japan will reach around 13.46 trillion yen ($123 billion), a Kyodo News tally showed Wednesday.
The amount, which could balloon further and eventually lead to higher electricity fees, was calculated based on financial documents from 11 power companies that own 57 nuclear reactors at 19 plants, as well as interviews with the utilities.
Two years after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis, the Japanese government introduced new safety standards which made measures against natural disasters and major accidents mandatory for restarting reactors.
The power companies have been given the option of either maintaining their idled nuclear power plants and restarting them once they had implemented the required safety measures, or decommissioning their plants. But it has become clear either choice required massive costs.
Of the total costs, 5.4 trillion yen was for safety measures implemented as of last month at 15 power plants they are trying to restart."