Japan employer federation boss says state, not Tepco, liable

[bananas]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hibq6mGI2oQ78jfXsFuj6G39rdDQ?docId=CNG.4ec0d644f5638e40f182b6d39cbee4b3.2c1

Japan employer federation boss says state, not Tepco, liable
By Dave Clark (AFP) – 21 hours ago

PARIS — The head of the Japanese employers' federation on Monday defended Tepco, owner of the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, saying the state and not the company should compensate disaster victims.

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Yonekura argued that Japan's Nuclear Power Generation Compensation Law has a proviso exempting reactor operators from responsibility in the event of "a disaster which cannot be usually imagined."

When the law passed, the then head of Japan's science and technology agency, future prime minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, told lawmakers an "unusual disaster" would be one roughly three times worse than the 1923 Kanto earthquake.

Yonekura claimed the March 11 quake plus tsunami was orders of magnitude greater than the earlier disaster.

He said the government's response had undermined global public support for nuclear power, and dismissed the idea that Tepco might have to be nationalised if it is not to collapse under the weight of compensation claims.

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I had to read this twice - the first time, I thought it said "employeEs federation", not "employeR".
Another example of privatize the profits, socialize the risk.