TEPCO Ordered to Pay ¥90 Million in Damages Over Fukushima Evacuations

Osaka District Court has ordered Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. to pay around 90 million yen in total damages to some plaintiffs in a lawsuit over evacuations following the March 2011 accident at TEPCO's Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant.

The lawsuit was filed by 221 people from 79 households, including evacuees to the Kinki region in western Japan. The court ordered damages payments to 103 plaintiffs from 53 households.

The district court acknowledged that TEPCO was responsible under the nuclear damage compensation law, regardless of any negligence. It did not recognize the government's responsibility for the nuclear accident, citing a 2022 Supreme Court ruling that stated there was a substantial possibility that the accident could have occurred even if the government had exercised regulatory authority.

Akiko Morimatsu, a plaintiff who evacuated with her child from the northeastern city of Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, to the western city of Osaka, criticized the district court's ruling. 'It's almost like a suicide by judiciary,' she said.