Photo: Reuters
An appeals court in Tokyo has overturned a ¥13 trillion (approximately €84 billion) civil fine imposed on four former executives of TEPCO, the energy company responsible for the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The verdict, handed down in 2022, was the result of a lawsuit filed by the company’s shareholders following the 2011 tsunami disaster, AFP reports.
The plaintiffs insisted that the managers could have prevented the accident if they had taken into account disaster risk studies and installed backup power supplies in a timely manner. However, the higher court agreed with the defence’s arguments that the scale of the disaster was unpredictable and the scientific information available at the time was unreliable.
According to Japan’s Jiji news agency, the court ruled that the powerful tsunami could not have been adequately predicted with the knowledge available in 2011. Thus, the liability of the company’s executives was found to be biased.
Meanwhile, activists and victims of the disaster continue to demand justice. At a rally outside the court building, they held a banner that read: “Responsibility for the Fukushima nuclear accident must be acknowledged!” and called for the fine to be increased to €147 billion.
The €84 billion fine was the largest civil penalty in Japan’s history. Its size was justified by the need to cover the costs of dismantling the reactors, compensating victims and cleaning up the contaminated area.
In 2023, the only criminal trial in relation to the disaster was also completed: two former TEPCO executives were finally acquitted of charges of professional negligence.
The Fukushima disaster, caused by a massive earthquake and tsunami, claimed about 18,500 lives. There were no direct casualties among NPP workers, but thousands died later due to deteriorating living conditions after the evacuation. It was the largest nuclear accident since Chernobyl.
