Fukushima survivors to sue Japan govt
2013-02-08 11:28
Tokyo - People whose homes or farms were hit by radiation from the stricken
Fukushima nuclear plant will file class-action lawsuits next month to seek
damages from the Japanese government, lawyers said Friday.
At least 350 residents are to file a case with Fukushima District Court on 11
March, the second anniversary of the disaster, the lawyers said, describing it
as the largest class-action on the issue against the state.
The plaintiffs, who are also scheduled to sue plant operator Tokyo Electric
Power, plan to seek 50 000 yen ($535) in compensation for every month they have
been displaced by the disaster.
They also intend to ask the court to issue an order forcing both the
government and TEPCO to reduce radiation levels in the area to those of before
the accident.
Nuclear crisis
The world's worst nuclear crisis in a generation began when a huge tsunami,
sparked by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake, crashed into the Fukushima power station
and swamped cooling systems.
Reactors went into meltdown, spewing radiation over a wide area and forcing
the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people.
"The government promoted nuclear power as a national policy and has
been closely involved with it," lawyer Izutaro Managi told AFP.
"Being fully aware of the danger of losing power due to a tsunami, the
government neglected its duty of preventing such an event," he said.
"This is a suit to recover a Fukushima with neither radiation nor nuclear
power."
Several other similar class-action suits will be also filed separately on 11
March with the Tokyo District Court, against both the government and TEPCO,
other lawyers said.
Played down risk
Experts said they brought the wrecked units under control in December 2011.
But melted fuel remains inside their cores and the full decommissioning and
cleaning-up is expected to take decades.
In July last year a parliamentary report said Fukushima was a man-made disaster
caused by Japan's culture of "reflexive obedience" and not just by
the tsunami that hit the plant.
TEPCO has admitted it played down known tsunami risks for fear of the
political, financial and reputational cost.
No one is officially recorded as having died as a direct result of the
nuclear disaster.
Japanese police have reportedly questioned a former head of the nuclear
safety body and TEPCO executives regarding possible criminal charges over the
Fukushima nuclear crisis.
