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Japanese Court Orders Millions in Payments After Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

by VOA News

   A Japanese court has ordered millions of dollars in payments to
   thousands of residents living near the Fukushima nuclear plant after
   they lost their homes and livelihoods during the 2011 radiation crisis
   caused by a tsunami.

   The court ordered the government and Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO),
   which ran the Fukushima plant, to pay $4.5 million to 3,800 plaintiffs
   after it said the company failed to make safety improvements, even
   though leaders there knew the risk a massive tsunami would pose to the
   plant.

   The ruling marks the end of the biggest class action lawsuit so far
   stemming from the nuclear plant disaster. Dozens of similar lawsuits
   involving 12,000 people are still pending.

   The court supported the plaintiffs' argument that the disaster could
   have been avoided had TEPCO moved the emergency diesel generators
   located in its basement to a higher spot and made its reactor buildings
   water tight, based on a 2002 study that recommended those changes.

   The 2011 tsunami damaged the cooling system for the nuclear reactor and
   flooded backup generators that could have kept the plant functional
   after it was hit by a massive wave that followed an earthquake.

   Nuclear Regulation Authority spokesman Kazuhiro Okuma reacted to the
   court ruling by saying he was unsure whether the government would
   appeal the decision.

   The ruling follows a similar March court decision that forced the
   government and TEPCO to pay $336,000 to 62 former Fukushima residents.
   In another ruling last month, a court ordered TEPCO to pay $3.4 million
   to around 45 former Fukushima residents.