Japan’s top court upholds ex-TEPCO leaders’ acquittal on negligence over Fukushima nuclear crisis

Japan’s top court has found two former company executives not guilty of negligence over the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster and the subsequent deaths of dozens of elderly residents during their forced evacuation.

The Supreme Court, upholding earlier lower court decisions that had acquitted the three top officials of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, said that a tsunami of the size that hit the plant was unforeseeable and the executives could not be held accountable for negligence.

The ruling rejected an appeal by the prosecution seeking their criminal responsibility, and the acquittal of two executives – Sakae Muto and Ichiro Takekuro – is now final. The charges against a third executive, former TEPCO chairperson Tsunehisa Katsumata, was dropped following his death in October.

The case was the only criminal trial related to the nuclear accident, in which a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and massive tsunami hit the plant, destroying its cooling systems and causing three reactors to melt. A large amount of radiation was released into surrounding soil and the sea, causing tens of thousands of residents to lose their homes, jobs and community ties.

The defendants were charged by a civil prosecution panel after the public prosecutors had dropped the case. The civil prosecution side that included Fukushima residents argued that TEPCO could have prevented the disaster had the plant installed sufficient safety measures before the tsunami, based on a long-term tsunami assessment provided by experts.

Ruiko Muto, who headed the prosecution side, called the ruling that came out just days ahead of the 14th anniversary of the accident “cold blooded” and one that tramples on the victims of the nuclear disaster.

The court said the executives were not guilty of causing the deaths of 44 elderly patients whose already waning health deteriorated during or after forced evacuations from a local hospital and a nursing home.

The ruling said the 2002 long-term projection was not considered as reliable and that it was impossible for TEPCO officials to predict the tsunami of that magnitude based on that.

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press