Police push for charges against TEPCO, execs over pollution problems after nuclear disaster

FUKUSHIMA--Police are pushing for criminal charges to be filed against Tokyo Electric Power Co. and 32 of its current and former executives over leakages of contaminated water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

Prefectural police officials here announced Oct. 2 that they had referred the case to prosecutors, but at the same time did not disclose if they had asked prosecutors to indict those named in the documents.

The TEPCO executives, as well as the utility itself, were listed as suspected violators of the pollution law for failing to prevent the leakage of highly radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean.

The Fukushima prefectural police sent papers to the Fukushima District Public Prosecutors Office in response to criminal complaints submitted against TEPCO and its executives since October 2013 by Fukushima residents who were affected by the 2011 triple meltdown at the Fukushima plant.

Among those named in the papers are TEPCO President Naomi Hirose and Tsunehisa Katsumata, a former chairman.

TEPCO executives were negligent in converting the temporary tanks holding contaminated water on the Fukushima No. 1 plant site to safer ones, according to the police. That failure led to the leakage of about 300 tons of contaminated water from the temporary tanks up until July 2013.

The executives were also blamed for delaying the installation of walls to prevent groundwater from flowing into the reactor buildings. This alleged failure meant that between 300 and 400 tons of contaminated water leaked from the reactor buildings on a daily basis from June 2011 to September 2013.

After Fukushima residents filed the criminal complaint, prefectural police interviewed all current and former TEPCO executives named in the document.

An official with TEPCO refrained from commenting on the decision to refer the case to prosecutors.