information about Fukushima published in English in Japanese media info publiée en anglais dans la presse japonaise
10 Février 2013
Februry 10, 2013
The government has decided to submit a bill to create a special measures law that would enable nuclear disaster victims to demand compensation beyond the Civil Code's three-year statute of limitations.
A plan was made on Friday to submit the bill aimed at victims of the crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant during the current Diet session.
Unable to keep up with the volume of applications for compensation-based settlements, the government hopes to provide victims with further relief through the special legislation.
The bill targets cases in which mediation by the Nuclear Damage Compensation Dispute Resolution Center between TEPCO and disaster victims fails. The center is under the jurisdiction of the government's Dispute Reconciliation Committee for Compensation of Nuclear Damage.
If the Civil Code's statute of limitations runs out before a settlement is reached in mediation, the special law is expected to allow victims to file lawsuits during an extension period.
The Civil Code stipulates that victims of accidents and unlawful actions have the right to demand compensation.
If victims have not exercised their rights within three years of suffering damage while others involved have petitioned the courts, the statute of limitations will go into effect and the rights will expire.
The statute of limitations is suspended if people involved file lawsuits within the three-year period.
But the rule has not been applied to mediations between the dispute resolution center and the nuclear disaster victims.
Thus it is expected that in cases related to the Fukushima disaster, there will be cases in which the statute of limitations will run out as early as March 2014.
TEPCO's comprehensive special business plan, which the government approved on Feb. 4, states that TEPCO does not believe that the expiration of the three-year period after the nuclear crisis will enable it to avail itself of the statute of limitations. The utility is seen to be flexibly responding to demands for compensation.
However, since the business plan itself does not nullify the statute of limitations, many victims of the nuclear disaster are worried that they may be unable to receive compensation under TEPCO's current management conditions.
Consequently, the government determined that a special measures law was needed to assure that the three-year statute of limitations would not be applied to the nuclear crisis.
The dispute resolution center was set up to ensure smooth proceedings in negotiations between the victims and TEPCO.
Responding to requests from victims, lawyers and examiners at the dispute resolution center have mediated between the two sides since September 2011.
As of the end of January this year, there were 5,063 requests for mediation services. Of them, 1,204 had reached settlements and 3,201 were still in progress.
There have been about 300 new requests per month, resulting in a backlog of administrative work.
Some legal experts previously voiced concerns that the statute of limitations would run out during the mediation process.
February 9, 2013
Staff Writer
Fukushima residents forced out of their homes by the nuclear crisis plan to file group damages suits against the government and Tokyo Electric Power Co. on March 11, the second anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake, their lawyers said Friday.
Around 10 households now living in Chiba Prefecture and about 10 families taking refuge in Tokyo are expected to file the suits in the Chiba and Tokyo district courts.
The lawyers said they believe these will be the first lawsuits targeting the central government for damages caused by the meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant.
Although the lawyers in Tokyo and Chiba haven’t finalized the size of damages each plaintiff will seek, including compensation for mental duress, the total for some of the households could reach ¥100 million, said Masatada Akimoto, one of the attorneys for the Chiba group.
Meanwhile another group of Fukushima people now residing in Fukushima, Miyagi, Yamagata, Tochigi and Ibaraki prefectures are preparing to file group damage suits against the government and Tepco on March 11. That suit will be filed with the Fukushima District Court, lawyers in the city of Fukushima said Friday.
They said they will seek ¥50,000 for each plaintiff for every month they have been displaced. They also plan to demand that radiation levels in their hometowns be reduced to their precrisis levels. The number of plaintiffs is expected to be around 350.
“The government promoted nuclear power plants prioritizing the economy over safety. . . . We believe it is time to demand that Tepco and the government take responsibility (for the nuclear disaster),” Akimoto told The Japan Times.
“People who evacuated from Fukushima still have no idea about their future. Their frustration has surpassed the breaking point,” he said.
According to Akimoto, Tepco has failed to reach damages settlements with people who fled from areas of Fukushima that were not designated for evacuation.
“As people begin to realize that Tepco is not willing to do anything (for them), some people have started to think that they need to stand up and do something about it rather than just wait,” Akimoto said.
Although the number of plaintiffs is small at present, he believes similar lawsuits will follow this year, considering the thousands of people living in similar straits across Japan.
As of Jan. 17, a total of 57,377 evacuees from Fukushima were living outside the prefecture. Among them, 7,458 are in Tokyo, the metropolitan government said.
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