福島核事故處理費用翻倍 日本民衆恐買單
Japan's government estimates the cost of cleaning up radioactive contamination and compensating victims of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster has more than doubled, reports say.
根據報道，清理福島核電站2011年核災難中的放射性污染物以及補償受害者的總費用超過了日本政府預計的兩倍。The latest estimate from the trade ministry put the expected cost at some 20 trillion yen ($180bn). The original estimate was for $50bn, which was increased to $100bn three years later.
據日本經濟產業省最新預估，處理費用可能高達20萬億日元（1800億美元）。最初的預計費用是500億美元，三年前上升到了1000億美元。The nuclear meltdown at Fukushima was caused by an earthquake and tsunami. More than 18,000 people were killed, tens of thousands more displaced and well over a million buildings destroyed or damaged.
福島的核災難是由地震和海嘯引起的。事故共造成超過18000人遇難，成千上萬的人被轉移，百萬餘房屋被破壞或摧毀。
Almost 4,000 roads, 78 bridges and 29 railways were also affected.
此外還有4000條道路、78座橋樑和29條鐵路受到影響。
The majority of the money will go towards compensation, with decontamination taking the next biggest slice. Storing the contaminated soil and decommissioning are the two next greatest costs.
預算中大部分資金都用於補償，淨化費用則佔第二大塊。處理受污染的土壤以及核設施退役過程是接下來的兩大主要開支。The compensation pot has been increased by about 50% and decontamination estimates have been almost doubled. The BBC's Japan correspondent, Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, says it is still unclear who is going to pay for the clean up.
其中賠償費上漲了50%，淨化費用也已翻倍。據BBC日本的記者Rupert Wingfield-Hayes表示，至今還不清楚誰將爲淨化費買單。Japan's government has long promised that Tokyo Electric Power, the company that owns the plant, will eventually pay the money back.
日本政府長期以來都承諾，擁有福島工業園區的日本東京電力公司將會支付這筆錢。But last Monday it admitted that electricity consumers would be forced to pay a portion of the clean up costs through higher electricity bills. Critics say this is effectively a tax on the public.
不過就在上週一，日本政府表示將轉嫁到高電費上以分擔一部分清理費。評論人事表示，這無疑會增加公衆的負擔。
