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TOKYO — Japan’s Parliament passed a law on Wednesday that will allow the use of public funds to shore up the company operating the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, and help it pay what is expected to amount to billions of dollars in compensation claims.
The law creates a state-backed fund that will pay damages to victims of the disaster at the plant, where three reactors melted down and spewed radiation after cooling systems were lost in the March tsunami. The government will initially pay 2 trillion yen, or nearly $26 billion, into the fund, Banri Kaieda, the trade minister, told lawmakers on Tuesday.
Swift compensation payments are vital not only in helping victims, analysts say, but also in helping to kick-start economic growth in the disaster zone. But the sheer size of payments could easily render Tokyo Electric Power, the embattled operator of the plant, insolvent.
Yukio Edano, the chief cabinet secretary, called the law “a major step forward.”
“We should discuss without preconceived ideas,” Prime Minister. Kan said in Parliament earlier this week, “whether Tepco will remain in its current form forever.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/04/wo...ef=global-home
The law creates a state-backed fund that will pay damages to victims of the disaster at the plant, where three reactors melted down and spewed radiation after cooling systems were lost in the March tsunami. The government will initially pay 2 trillion yen, or nearly $26 billion, into the fund, Banri Kaieda, the trade minister, told lawmakers on Tuesday.
Swift compensation payments are vital not only in helping victims, analysts say, but also in helping to kick-start economic growth in the disaster zone. But the sheer size of payments could easily render Tokyo Electric Power, the embattled operator of the plant, insolvent.
Yukio Edano, the chief cabinet secretary, called the law “a major step forward.”
“We should discuss without preconceived ideas,” Prime Minister. Kan said in Parliament earlier this week, “whether Tepco will remain in its current form forever.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/04/wo...ef=global-home