Osaka High Court Denies Govt Liability for Nuclear Evacuations

   Osaka, Dec. 18 (Jiji Press)--Osaka High Court ruled Wednesday that the Japanese government is not liable to pay compensation for evacuations following the March 2011 accident at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s tsunami-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
   Revising a March 2018 ruling by Kyoto District Court that ordered the government and TEPCO to jointly pay a total of about 110 million yen in compensation to 110 plaintiffs, the high court ordered only TEPCO to pay about 110 million yen to 92 plaintiffs.
   The lawsuit was filed by a total of 166 people from 55 households who evacuated to Kyoto Prefecture from Fukushima and other prefectures following the nuclear disaster. They demanded a total of about 800 million yen in compensation.
   In a series of similar lawsuits, the Supreme Court ruled in June 2022 that the government was not liable for compensation.
   In Wednesday's ruling, the high court suggested that it had been possible to predict a 15.7-meter tsunami based on data such as a long-term seismic risk assessment released in 2002 by the government's Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion.

(2024/12/18-16:07)