Japan court holds TEPCO liable over Fukushima disaster

TEPCO must pay US$3.3m in compensation to evacuees.

A district court in Chiba, Tokyo ruled that the Japanese government "was able to foresee" but not liable over the Fukushima disaster.

However, according to Enerdata, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) was declared liable and will have to pay Yen376m (US$3.3m) in compensation to evacuees of the Fukushima nuclear disaster for 42 out of the 45 plaintiffs.

The lawsuit was lodged back in March 2013 and the plaintiffs originally sought Yen2.8bn in damages from the government and TEPCO.

"This is the second ruling of this kind involving the Fukushima disaster but in the first ruling (March 2017), the Maebashi District Court in Gunma Prefecture found both TEPCO and the government responsible for the nuclear disaster and ordered them to pay a compensation of Yen38.55m for 62 plaintiffs," Enerdata said.

This story was originally published by Enerdata.