TOKYO, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- The Japanese utility that owns the Fukushima nuclear facility will cut 1,000 jobs to become financially viable again, company officials said.
The program will take place as a "voluntary redundancy program," JiJi reported Saturday. Tokyo Electric Power Co., or Tepco, will also convert to a holding company business model in the coming months in a bid to earn nearly $5 billion in loans to assist the struggling outfit.
The company already shed some 3,600 jobs in 2012 after the Japanese government approved a plan that largely curtailed new hiring. The company's decontamination efforts after the Fukushima reactors melted down three times following a devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2011 still requires proof of additional streamlining and cost reductions in order to gain government support for the costs, officials said.
The changes are expected to be fully implemented by 2016. The proposal still must be put to Tepco's labor union, which is expected to happen in early 2014.
