Japan approves $9 bn support for Fukushima plant operator Tepco

Tokyo: Japan’s trade minister approved nearly $9 billion in additional support for Tokyo Electric Power Co on Monday to help compensate victims of the Fukushima nuclear crisis, but said the government would not inject taxpayers’ money into the troubled utility unless it got adequate management say in return. [caption id=“attachment_211014” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The goverment has been expected to inject 1 trillion yen in public funds into the utility.”]  [/caption] The goverment has been expected to inject 1 trillion yen in public funds into the utility, also known as Tepco, which provides electricity to some 45 million people, but the two sides have been bickering over the form of the government stake and the extent to which it will gain management control. The utility’s Fukushima plant was wrecked by a quake and tsunami last March, triggering the world’s worst nuclear crisis in 25 years and swamping the firm with massive future cleanup, decommissioning and compensation costs. Reuters