Payouts For Fukushima Nuclear Leak Evacuees
11:23am UK, Friday April 15, 2011
The company that runs Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant has been ordered to pay compensation to people forced to leave their homes because of leaking radiation.
Damage at the Fukushima nuclear power plant
Individual households affected by the disaster will receive up to £7,300 ($12,000) when payments begin on April 28.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company, TEPCO has set aside £370m ($600m) for the initial payouts but more compensation is expected.
Industry analysts say TEPCO could end up paying £14bn ($23bn) in the current financial year.
One analyst says the bill could rise to £80bn ($130bn) if the Fukushima crisis drags on.
Reports from Japan say that a government-backed compensation fund might be set up to save TEPCO, Asia's largest utility company, from collapse.
Police in protective suits search for bodies near the Fukushima nuclear plant
It has lost more than three-quarters of its stock market value since the disaster.Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano has said that an estimated 200,000 people living within a 30 km radius from the plant will be eligible for the initial compensation payments.
Efforts are still continuing to stabilise the reactors at the nuclear power plant which saw its cooling systems fail after it was hit by the March 11 megaquake and subsequent tsunami.
Radiation levels inside a total 10km exclusion zone dropped enough on Thursday for police to begin searching the area for the bodies of an estimated 1,000 people killed by the earthquake and tsunami.
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