Tokyo Electric Power Co. is ¥10.55 billion in arrears to the Environment Ministry over work to decontaminate land around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, government officials said Friday.
The sum is part of a total ¥14.9 billion the ministry asked Tepco to pay by February, based on a special law on decontamination enacted after the March 2011 meltdowns. But its provisions do not clarify the extent to which the utility is obliged to pay back the money.
Tepco has not yet agreed to pay back the ¥10.55 billion, with one of the company's officials saying it "cannot judge whether it is a demand based on the special law."