Tokyo court only holds utility responsible to compensate Fukushima evacuees and reduces damages
Posted: 28th December 2023
FILE – A Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) logo is seen on a uniform of an employee at the company’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, Japan, on Feb. 23, 2017. A Tokyo court on Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2023 ruled that only the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, known as TEPCO, the operator of the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant had to pay damages to dozens of evacuees, relieving the government of responsibility. Plaintiffs criticized the ruling as belittling their suffering and the severity of the disaster.(Tomohiro Ohsumi/Pool Photo via AP, File)
TOKYO (AP) — A Tokyo court has ruled that only the operator of the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant had to pay damages to dozens of evacuees, relieving the government of responsibility. Plaintiffs criticized the ruling as belittling their suffering and the severity of the disaster.
The Tokyo High Court also slashed the amount to half of a lower court’s decision, ordering the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, known as TEPCO, to pay a total of 23.5 million yen ($165,000) to 44 of the 47 plaintiffs.
Tuesday’s ruling backpedaled from an earlier decision in March 2018, when the Tokyo District Court held both the government and TEPCO accountable for the disaster, which the ruling said could have been prevented if they both took better precautionary measures, ordering both to pay 59 million yen ($414,400) in damages.