Tokyo Electric Power Company announced Wednesday that it needs $125 billion more for the clean-up and compensation for those who lost their jobs and homes in the Fukushima nuclear crisis, a month after admitting that the disaster could have been avoided.
“There is a view that we may need the same amount of additional money for the decontamination of low-level radiation areas and costs of temporary facilities for storing waste,” a statement from the company said as it presented a new management plan.
TEPCO claimed that it is facing a bill of up to 10 trillion yen and is seeking government help. “It will become difficult for us to raise money from the private sector so we will have to rely on the government for the financing of all our business,” according to the company’s statement.
The government poured in one trillion yen in April to prevent the company from crumbling in exchange for a controlling stake, AFP reports.
TEPCO chairman Kazuhiko Shimokobe told reporters that the company “could become a shell, existing only to sort out the mess left by the tsunami-sparked disaster” and stressed that the company “should be revived as a fully-fledged private-sector entity” that would effectively provide compensation for those affected by the disaster and supply energy to millions of people.
