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Jail term demanded for ex-bosses over Fukushima nuclear crisis
TOKYO, Dec 26, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A five-year jail term was sought for three
former executives at the company operating Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant,
media reported Wednesday, the only people to face criminal charges over the
2011 meltdowns.
Former chairman of Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) Tsunehisa Katsumata and
former vice presidents Sakae Muto and Ichiro Takekuro are charged with
professional negligence resulting in death and injury, and have pleaded not
guilty.
They are the only charges to have stemmed from the tsunami-sparked reactor
meltdowns at the plant that set off the worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl
in 1986.
Attorneys, who are exceptionally acting as prosecutors in the trial, said
the three executives were aware of data indicating the nuclear plant risked
being hit by a tsunami with waves exceeding 15 metres (52 feet) — enough to
trigger power loss and cause severe accidents.
“They should have halted operations at the nuclear plant” until the company
finished anti-tsunami measures, including construction of a breakwater, the
prosecutors told Tokyo District Court, according to Jiji Press.
Katsumata, 78, has said during the trial he could not have predicted the
towering waves that pummelled Japan’s northeast coast and swamped reactors in
March 2011.
The disaster forced tens of thousands to evacuate their homes near the
plant. Many are still living in other parts of Japan, unable or unwilling to
go back home as fears over radiation persist.
The charges against the ex-bosses are linked to the deaths of more than 40
hospitalised patients who were hastily evacuated from the Fukushima area and
later died.
Prosecutors had twice refused to press charges, citing insufficient
evidence and little chance of conviction.
But a judicial review panel composed of ordinary citizens ruled in 2015
that the trio should be put on special trial in which designated attorneys
accuse defendants and demand a penalty.
Waves as high as 14 metres swamped the reactors’ cooling systems in March
2011 after a 9.0 magnitude tremor.
Although the quake-tsunami disaster left some 18,500 people dead or
missing, the Fukushima accident itself is not officially recorded as having
directly killed anyone.
A parliamentary report a year after the disaster said Fukushima was a man-
made crisis caused by Japan’s culture of “reflexive obedience”.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1712 hrs