Osaka Court Orders TEPCO to Pay 90 M. Yen for Nuclear Evacuations
Osaka, Sept. 2 (Jiji Press)--Osaka District Court on Wednesday ordered Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. to pay about 90 million yen in total damages to some plaintiffs in a lawsuit over evacuations following the March 2011 accident at TEPCO's tsunami-stricken Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant. The lawsuit was filed by 221 people from 79 households, including evacuees to the Kinki...
On September 2, Osaka District Court in Japan ruled that Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. (TEPCO) must pay approximately 90 million yen in total damages to plaintiffs concerning evacuations following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. The lawsuit was brought forth by 221 individuals from 79 households, including evacuees to the Kinki region in western Japan. The court ordered payments to 103 plaintiffs from 53 households.
The court's decision, based on a 2022 Supreme Court ruling, did not attribute responsibility to the government for the nuclear accident. The district court determined that there was a substantial likelihood the accident would have occurred even if the government had carried out its regulatory duties. Nevertheless, the court acknowledged TEPCO's responsibility under the nuclear damage compensation law, irrespective of any negligence.
At a press conference later that day, plaintiff Akiko Morimatsu, who evacuated her child from Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture to Osaka, expressed dissatisfaction with the district court's ruling. Morimatsu described the court's decision as "almost like a suicide by judiciary."
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