Hokkaido Electric Power Co Inc
9509
2
exclusion reasons
2 themes
This page is part of our public exclusion list — a transparency tool that shows which companies we screen out and why. It is not investment advice, and it is not an accusation. But it is subject to change as our understanding of the facts evolves.
Hokkaido Electric Power Company operates the Tomari Nuclear Power Plant, which houses three pressurized water reactors. The company has faced significant environmental and safety concerns related to its nuclear operations. In 2012, the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) identified numerous safety deficiencies at the Tomari plant, including inadequate earthquake and tsunami preparedness measures, leading to a prolonged shutdown for safety upgrades. The plant has been offline since 2012, accumulating spent nuclear fuel on-site without a long-term disposal solution, creating a persistent environmental liability.
The company's operations have contributed to Japan's broader radioactive waste management challenge. According to Japan's 2011 National Report to the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, utilities like Hokkaido Electric are responsible for managing the spent fuel and radioactive waste generated by their reactors. The environmental risk stems from the ongoing on-site storage of high-level radioactive waste and the potential for contamination from any future incident, given the plant's location in a seismically active region. While no single catastrophic event like Fukushima is attributed to Hokkaido Electric, the documented pattern of safety regulatory failures and the indefinite storage of hazardous nuclear materials constitute a documented environmental risk.
Hokkaido Electric Power Co., Inc. (HEPCO) operates a generation fleet that is heavily reliant on coal-fired power plants. As of its most recent reporting, the company's key thermal power stations include the Tomato-Atsuma Power Station, which comprises multiple large-scale coal-fired units. This facility is central to HEPCO's baseload power supply for the Hokkaido region. The company's integrated business model involves the ownership and operation of these coal-fired generation assets, not merely the trading of fuel.
A 2016 analysis by the University of Oxford's Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment identified Japanese utilities, including HEPCO, as having significant stranded asset risk due to their exposure to thermal coal generation. The company's long-term power source development plans, referenced in its investor materials, continue to feature these coal-fired assets without a published phase-out schedule aligned with global climate targets. HEPCO's operational and financial results are directly tied to the continued use of coal as a dominant fuel source.
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