An additional 17billlion yen will be needed

November 6, 2016

Decontamination to cost additional $17 bil.

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20161106_18/

It has been revealed that the cost of decontaminating areas affected by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident is nearly 1.5 times the initial estimate.

NHK has learned that about 19.5 billion dollars had already been spent on decontamination projects by March this year. The Environment Ministry and the Reconstruction Agency say an additional 17 billion dollars will be needed.

The government cites an increase in personnel costs as one reason for the rising expense.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, is primarily responsible for shouldering the financial burden.

The government now plans to pay for the decontamination by selling the TEPCO stocks it bought in 2012.

But these shares would have to triple in value to cover the full cost.

The government also says that more than 10 billion dollars of taxpayers' money will be needed to build facilities to store the waste from the decontamination process.