Fukushima costs to double to nearly USD 180 bn.

TIL Desk/World/Tokyo-The estimated cost of dealing with the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis has doubled to some USD 180 billion, a report said today, underlining the challenge Japan faces in overcoming the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

The Japanese government now estimates that total costs – including compensation, decommissioning and decontamination – could reach 20 trillion yen (USD 178 billion) or even more.

The figure, which it obtained from unidentified government sources, is nearly double the previous estimate of 11 trillion yen made three years ago. An official at the economy, trade and industry ministry, which oversees the nuclear sector, could not confirm the report.

But he said the government was working to finalise the latest estimate of total costs, while an expert panel is discussing how to share them with Fukushima operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) and others.

“Discussions will continue into next year,” the official said. A massive undersea quake on March 11, 2011, sent a giant tsunami barrelling into Japan’s northeastern coast, leaving more than 18,500 people dead or missing, and sending three reactors into meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant.