TOKYO, July 13 — A Tokyo court today ordered former executives from the operator of the devastated Fukushima nuclear plant to pay ¥13.32 trillion for failing to prevent the disaster, plaintiffs said.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs hailed the ruling, and said they believed it to be the largest amount of compensation ever awarded in a civil lawsuit in Japan. The shareholders argued that the disaster could have been prevented if Tepco bosses had listened to research and carried out preventative measures like placing an emergency power source on higher ground.
“We realise that ¥13 trillion is well beyond their capacity to pay,” he told reporters, adding that the plaintiffs expect the men to pay as much as their assets allow.Three of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant’s six reactors were operating when a massive undersea quake triggered a devastating tsunami on March 11, 2011.
Tepco has been pursued in the courts by survivors of the disaster as well as shareholders, and six plaintiffs this year took the firm to court over claims they developed thyroid cancer because of radiation exposure.