Resignation

Tepco Chief Steps Down

Utility posts $15.3B loss after Fukushima nuclear disaster.

If nuclear catastrophe wasn't enough to get the head of Japan's nuclear utility Tepco to resign, record losses are. After months of criticism over his company's handling of the Fukushima nuclear crisis, Tepco President Masataka Shimizu resigned as the utility announced losses of $15.3 billion, the biggest for a non-financial Japanese company. The utility faces another bill, potentially in the tens of billions of dollars, to compensate victims of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Officials have asked for government help in compensating victims, many of whom had to evacuate the disaster site. People have been asking Shimizu when he would resign for months, and he had indicated some time this summer. Shimizu, wearing a blue company jacket, bowed deeply and apologized for the crisis. "I want to apologize from the bottom of my heart for the accident at Fukushima Daiichi causing great distress and worry," he said.