Sluggish response from TEPCO plus insufficient number of lawyers

September 1, 2012

Nuclear accident settlement procedure slow

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20120901_17.html

Saturday marks one year since a government arbitration body began accepting damages files from victims of last year's nuclear accident. However, arbitration officials say only one seventh of the filed damages cases have reached legal settlements in the past year.

The Japanese government set up the arbitration body to mediate settlements between victims and Tokyo Electric Power Company, the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The arbitrators say that of 3,793 cases they have accepted by Friday, only 520 have been settled.

They say it took about 6 months to settle each case, 3 months longer than the original target.

The arbitration center says there are an insufficient number of lawyers. It also says the utility has been slow to respond in some cases.

The center plans to increase the number of lawyers from 130 to 280 by the end of the year, and to urge TEPCO to respond more quickly.

The head of the center Hiroshi Noyama says they are aiming to settle each case in 3 months so that the victims can start to rebuild their lives as soon as possible.