In mid-September, 2½ years will have passed since the start of the nuclear catastrophe at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Contamination of the environment with radioactive substances from the crippled plant continues unabated today despite the efforts of Tepco. The lives of hundreds of thousands of Fukushima residents have been irrevocably changed by the nuclear disaster, and some 150,000 people still cannot return to their homes even today.
Due to a civil code provision that limits compensation claims to three years after a person becomes aware of damage, the right of victims of the nuclear disaster to claim compensation will begin to expire in March 2014 unless the Diet establishes special legislation.
To apply this civil code provision to victims of the Fukushima nuclear fiasco is wrong in view of the unparalleled scale and ongoing duration of the disaster. The government and political parties must enact legislation in the Diet session this autumn to greatly lengthen the period in which victims can claim compensation from Tepco.
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