"Ex-TEPCO execs found liable for damages over Fukushima nuclear crisis" 13 July 2022

A Tokyo court on Wednesday ordered former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. to pay the utility some 13 trillion yen ($95 billion) in total damages for failing to prevent the 2011 crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

The ruling in favor of shareholders who filed the lawsuit in 2012 is the first to find former TEPCO executives liable for compensation after the nuclear plant in northeastern Japan caused one of the worst nuclear disasters in history triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

The Tokyo District Court's Presiding Judge Yoshihide Asakura said the utility's countermeasures for the tsunami "fundamentally lacked safety awareness and a sense of responsibility," ruling that the executives failed to perform their duties.

If tsunami resilience work had been conducted to prevent flooding of main structures, TEPCO could have prevented the disaster, in which power was lost and reactor cooling functions were crippled, causing reactor meltdowns, according to the ruling.

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"It's a historic verdict that deserves lasting praise," Hiroyuki Kawai, a lawyer representing the shareholders, said in a press conference. "It showed company executives have such a heavy responsibility and could even be held liable for damages if an accident occurs."

The damages of over 13 trillion yen are likely be the largest ever in a civil lawsuit in Japan, though it would be realistically difficult for the company to collect them from the former executives.

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TEPCO declined to comment on the ruling, saying it will refrain from responding to matters related to individual lawsuits.

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The focal point of the trial was whether the management's decisions on tsunami countermeasures were appropriate after a TEPCO unit estimated in 2008 that a tsunami of up to 15.7 meters could hit the plant based on the government's long-term earthquake assessment made public in 2002.

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The court judged that the government's assessment was reliable enough to oblige the company to take measures against tsunami. "It is extremely irrational and unforgivable" to put off a decision to act on the government study, the ruling said.

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