TEPCO : Fukushima clean up, compensation may hit $125 bln

The cost of cleaning up the mess left by meltdowns at Fukushima nuclear power station and compensating those affected may double to $125 billion, the plant's operator said on Wednesday. Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said decontamination of irradiated areas and paying people whose livelihoods or home life have been affected would cost more than the five trillion yen it had estimated in April. "There is a view that we may need the same amount (again) of additional money for the decontamination of low-level radiation areas and costs of temporary facilities for storing waste," the company said in a statement. The utility -- one of the world's biggest -- received one trillion yen of public cash in April in exchange for granting the government a controlling stake. The money was intended to prevent the company, which generates and supplies electricity to millions of people, including in and around Tokyo, from going under. But on Wednesday as they readied to present a new management plan, the company said it was looking at a bill of up to 10 trillion yen -- around two percent of Japan's gross domestic product.