The company responsible for the operation of a stricken nuclear plant has asked the Japanese government for funds to help pay compensation to those displaced by the crisis.
The Fukushima Daiichi power plant was crippled after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami that devastated much of northeast Japan on 11 March.
The plant's owner, Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), says it has presented a formal written request to Economy Minister Banri Kaieda.
The compensation bill Tepco faces is still to be calculated but analysts estimate it will run into tens of billions of dollars, the BBC reports.
The area within 20 kilometres of the Fukushima plant, once home to about 80,000 people, is uninhabitable - at least until next year. Farms, fisheries and factories have been abandoned.
Tepco president Masataka Shimizu has asked the government for help to pay and in return pledged massive restructuring.
Meanwhile, workers are struggling to stabilise the plant after the quake knocked out cooling systems at the plant, causing fuel rods to overheat. There were subsequently explosions at four reactors operating at the time of the quake.
Engineers are pumping water into the reactors to cool them as they work to restore the damaged cooling systems.
