No limit on TEPCO nuclear compensation

TOKYO - Japan's government will not put a cap on the liabilities faced by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) for damages stemming from its crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said on Monday.

Under Japanese law, the operator of a nuclear facility can be granted an exemption from damages caused by a reactor if the accident was deemed to have been triggered by "a grave natural disaster of an exceptional character".

Edano, responding to a question on the issue in a parliamentary committee, said the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that tore through the Fukushima Daiichi plant should not qualify for that exemption because a disaster of that scale had happened before and the risk of it occurring was known.