Status: 07/13/2022 10:36 a.m
Shareholders of the Japanese nuclear company Tepco have won compensation of 94.6 billion euros. So far, courts had acquitted companies of responsibility for the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
More than eleven years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, four high-ranking ex-managers of the energy company Tepco have been sentenced to pay billions. A court in Tokyo ordered the payment of 13 trillion yen (94.6 billion euros), Japanese media reported. Shareholders complained. The group declined to comment on the decision.
According to the reports, it is the first time a court has held former executives responsible for the disaster. The verdict comes at odds with a 2019 criminal case in which the Tokyo District Court acquitted three Tepco executives of negligence and ruled that they could not have foreseen the massive tsunami that struck the nuclear plant.
Biggest nuclear disaster since Chernobyl
The Fukushima nuclear power plant, located by the sea, was hit by an almost 15 meter high tsunami shortly after a severe earthquake on March 11, 2011. The power plant’s cooling system failed, and core meltdowns occurred in three of the six reactors.
The disaster turned surrounding towns into ghost towns. It was the worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster of 1986. The tsunami killed around 18,500 people.
The power plant operator Tepco was sued because of the consequences of the nuclear catastrophe both by those affected and by shareholders. The costly dismantling of the nuclear plant is also costly for the energy company.