Dissatisfied with government-orchestrated compensation, the number of local residents and others affected by the Fukushima nuclear crisis who have sued Tokyo Electric Power Co. is expected to soon top 10,000 plaintiffs.
Dissatisfied with government-orchestrated compensation, the number of local residents and others affected by the Fukushima nuclear crisis who have sued Tokyo Electric Power Co. is expected to soon top 10,000 plaintiffs.
According to a lawyers' group supporting the plaintiffs, a total of 9,992 people, including those who lived in evacuation zones or voluntarily fled their homes, have joined 25 lawsuits filed with 20 district courts and court branches across Japan, including Sapporo and Fukuoka, by the end of April in the four years since the disaster.
The first such case was brought to court in December 2012 by evacuees from Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, and elsewhere.
The plaintiffs are demanding that TEPCO, operator of the wrecked Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, pay additional compensation and bring down radiation levels near the facility to pre-disaster conditions.
Because 900 people have joined the suits since January, the number of plaintiffs seeking compensation for damages related to the nuclear disaster triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 will most likely exceed 10,000 in the not-too-distant future, the lawyers’ group said.
Most of the plaintiffs are also seeking compensation from the central government based on the state redress law. In another massive litigation, more than 20,000 residents living near the U.S. Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture in 2011 called for compensation for damages caused by aircraft noise in the third lawsuit related to the military base.
Based on guidelines compiled by the national Dispute Reconciliation Committee for Nuclear Damage Compensation, TEPCO has been paying compensation to those forced to evacuate from their hometowns after the nuclear crisis. The utility is also compensating local business operators for losses associated with the disaster.
But the plaintiffs are arguing the payments are insufficient and demanding that TEPCO pay additional compensation until the radiation readings return to pre-disaster levels, and that the utility compensate the victims for the “loss of their hometowns.”