Bypassing government guidelines, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said it will end compensation payments next February to people whose incomes have fallen because of the Fukushima nuclear accident.
Bypassing government guidelines, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said it will end compensation payments next February to people whose incomes have fallen because of the Fukushima nuclear accident.
The operator of the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant announced its decision on Feb. 24, citing an “improvement in the employment climate.”
But the Dispute Reconciliation Committee for Nuclear Damage Compensation, a governmental body that sets guidelines for compensation to nuclear disaster victims, has not decided when to terminate reparations.
“We may not abide by the guidelines, but considering the particularity of the accident, we have sufficiently extended the indemnity period,” a TEPCO official said.
The utility has paid compensation through the end of this month to cover reduced incomes of residents in evacuation zones who lost or changed their jobs because of the nuclear accident triggered by the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.
According to TEPCO officials, the company will pay its final reparation for income decreases for the period through February next year, and it will not prolong the basic compensation term.
This plan goes against the government committee’s guidelines, which state that “it will be reasonable to end compensation when residents become able to do business on a level equivalent to that before the disaster.”
When the committee compiled additional guidelines in December, it decided to allow TEPCO to stop paying compensation for emotional distress a year after evacuation orders are lifted. That decision was made on the assumption that the utility would continue providing compensation for decreases in income.
The TEPCO officials also said that the utility for up to one year will cover the differences between current incomes and those after evacuees return to their homes within a year after the government lifts the evacuation orders.