TEPCO almost attains Power Supply goal for end of Aug

Tokyo Electric Power Co. is already close to attaining its goal set for the end of August of increasing its electricity supply capacity to 56.10 million kilowatts by boosting thermal generation to make up for shortages caused by crippled nuclear plants, officials said Tuesday. But the utility serving the Kanto region surrounding Tokyo, where power demand reached its highest level so far this summer of 48.91 million kw last Wednesday, is keeping an eye out for any unexpected accidents in light of a turbine failure that caused Kansai Electric Power Co.''s 400,000 kw thermal plant to shut down Sunday, Japan''s News Agency (Kyodo) reported Tokyo Electric, known as TEPCO, must cope without its two nuclear plants in Fukushima Prefecture, including the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi plant, following the March earthquake and tsunami, but has managed to restore its tsunami-crippled thermal plant in the same prefecture. (QNA) RMA/LY