Fukushima court rules Tepco, government liable over 2011 disaster: media

 

A member of the media, wearing a protective suit and a mask, looks at the No. 3 reactor building at Tokyo Electric Power Co's (TEPCO) tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, Japan February 10, 2016. REUTERS/Toru Hanai/Files

 

TOKYO (Reuters) - A district court in Fukushima prefecture on Tuesday ruled that Tokyo Electric Power and the Japanese government were liable for damages totalling about 500 million yen ($4.44 million) in the largest class action lawsuit brought over the 2011 nuclear disaster, Kyodo news agency said.

 

A group of about 3,800 people, mostly in Fukushima prefecture, filed the class action suit, marking the biggest number of plaintiffs out of about 30 similar class action lawsuits filed across the nation.

 

This is the second court ruling that fixed the government's responsibility after a Maebashi district court decision in March.

 

All the three district court decisions so far have ordered Tepco to pay damages. Only the Chiba court decision last month did not find the government liable for compensation.

 

The plaintiffs in Fukushima case have called on defendants for reinstating the levels of radioactivity at their homes before the disaster, but the court rejected the request, Kyodo said.

 

Tepco has long been criticised for ignoring the threat posed by natural disasters to the Fukushima plant and the company and the government were lambasted for their handling of the crisis.

 

($1 = 112.6100 yen)

 

(Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori and Aaron Sheldrick; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Gopakumar Warrier)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-10-10

They should just make the TEPCO executives and all the government nuclear regulators take an hour long swim in the ocean adjacent to the nuclear plant and call it good.

Wow some new out of Japan about Fukushima . Thought it was all hush hush , taboo subject. Radiation ? What radiation ?

Japan: Japanese government negligence causes major losses; Court ruling - Japanese government (along with the electric power company) must pay for the losses.

Thailand:  Thailand government negligence causes major losses in rice pledging scheme.  Court ruling - Blame the ex-prime minister as a scapegoat and sentence her to 5 years in prison; all other legislators who voted for the scheme not charged.

4.4 million seems an awfully low number to me. 4.4 billion would be more appropriate.