The Supreme Court of Japan: The government does not need to compensate the Fukushima nuclear victims

On the 17th, the Supreme Court of Japan rejected about 3,700 Fukushima First Nuclear Power Station nuclear leaks. The national compensation request of the affected persons' compensation was required that the government did not need to bear the liability for compensation for many years of evacuation of Fukushima Prefecture and surrounding residents.

This is the first time that the Supreme Court has made a decision on whether the Japanese government should assume national compensation liability for the Fukushima nuclear accident. The Kyodo News interprets that this will inevitably be a similar lawsuit in the future as a jurisdiction.

On March 11, 2012, at the first anniversary of the "March 11" earthquake in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, people mourned collectively. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Guan Xianichiro)

The ruling issued by the Second Court of the Supreme Court of Japan on the 17th involved four collective lawsuits initiated by residents of the three counties of Gunma, Chiba, and Euge in Fukushima Prefecture and nearby. The nuclear accidents forced these plaintiffs to leave their hometown, or seriously affected their lives. They claimed to Tokyo Electric Power Corporation and the Japanese government to Fukushima First Nuclear Power Station.

The plaintiff believes that if the Japanese government has a long -term assessment report on the risk of tsunami publicly in 2002, it exercises the power of supervision and requires that Dongdian should take preventive measures to avoid the flooding of nuclear power plants. This disaster can be avoided. The Japanese government and Dongdian claim that even if the tsunami may attack the nuclear power plant and take measures, the government and operators do not need to take responsibility. The reason is that when the tsunami really occurs 11 years ago, the scope and direction are different from the evaluation forecast.

Since 2013, about 30 similar lawsuits have been initiated throughout Japan, and the number of plaintiffs has exceeded 12,000.

In the previous rulings, the lower courts held different opinions. Some local courts have to compensate for the Japanese government and Dongdian, and some local courts have rejected claims on the Japanese government.

Regarding the above four collective lawsuits, the Supreme Court supported the decision of the lower court in March this year in a ruling that Dongdian should bear all compensation liability alone, compensation for a total of 1.4 billion yen (about 10.5 million US dollars).

The nuclear waste water storage tank shot in the Fukushima first nuclear power plant in Japan on October 12, 2017. Xinhua News Agency

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake occurred in the northeast of Japan and triggered the tsunami, which led to a radioactive substance leakage accident in the Fukushima first nuclear power plant, and the severity reached the highest level of international nuclear events. The level of the Beli nuclear accident is equivalent. About 470,000 residents of Fukushima and surrounding areas were forced to evacuate within a few days after the nuclear disaster. Many people waited for a few years to return to their hometown, and tens of thousands of people still failed to return to their hometown.

The Fukushima nuclear accident has endlessly harmed the surrounding residents and the ecological environment. The Dongdian and the Japanese government have shocked the outside world for nuclear pollution water accumulated in the nuclear power plant over the years. On April 13, 2021, the Japanese government officially approved Dongdian to filter dilution of nuclear pollution water and lined up into the sea, causing fishery groups and local officials to oppose it. Some neighboring countries and international environmental protection groups have also strongly opposed and questioned, arguing that this may have a negative impact on the surrounding marine environment. The Japanese government is still lonely and plans to discharge the so -called "radioactive substances" nuclear pollution water in the Pacific Ocean in the spring of 2023.

(Source: Xinhua News Agency)

【Edit: Wang Yujin】

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