Already battered by the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years, Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Tuesday faces furious shareholders whose investments have evaporated after the March 11 disasters.

TEPCO shares have lost around 85 percent of their value since a 9.0 magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami that crippled cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, with three reactors suffering meltdowns.

The company faces huge costs amid anger at its handling of the crisis and the prospect of public funds being used as part of a public-private government scheme to ensure TEPCO can meet trillions of yen in compensation.

Around 85,000 people have been evacuated from their homes, farms and businesses in a 20-kilometre (12-mile) zone around the radiation-spewing plant, with evacuation pockets also further afield.

Riot squads and around 150 police officers will be deployed around the hotel in Tokyo where the annual meeting of shareholders is to take place Tuesday with protests planned by residents of Fukushima and anti-nuclear activists.

"My anger for TEPCO is beyond words. I want to tell them to take all responsibilities," Toshiko Furusho, a 72-year-old shareholder pushing for TEPCO to abandon nuclear power, told AFP.

"There is no way our tax money should be used to cover compensation."

Analysts say the event will see fiery debate on the fate of TEPCO's nuclear power business, while attendance is expected to be higher than last year's 3,342.

A proposal for the company to abandon nuclear power will be presented to the company's 746,927 shareholders with voting rights, but is highly unlikely to be adopted, according to Japanese media.

Many households across the country purchased TEPCO shares as long-term assets expecting stable and relatively high dividend yields, given its position as a power supplier for Tokyo and the Kanto region -- an area that contributes more than a third of the nation's gross domestic product.

But TEPCO is unlikely pay dividends or make profits for years as it undertakes mammoth restructuring, battles to contain radiation, and pays out trillions of yen in compensation to those affected by the accident.

In May it reported a $15 billion annual net loss for the year ended March, the biggest ever for a non-financial Japanese firm, on costs related to the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in 1986.

Four of six reactors at the Fukushima plant have been crippled, and the company is struggling with efforts to bring the crisis under full control by a self-imposed deadline of January 2012.

Ratings agencies Moody's and Standard & Poor's have downgraded TEPCO to junk status, citing the volatile situation at the plant and uncertainty surrounding the level of state support for the power company.

Its shares have tanked and in June hit an all-time closing low of 192 yen.

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