The Osaka High Court ruled Wednesday that the government is not liable to pay compensation over evacuations following the March 2011 accident at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings' (Tepco) tsunami-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Revising a March 2018 ruling by the Kyoto District Court that ordered the government and Tepco to jointly pay a total of about ¥110 million ($717,000) in compensation to 110 plaintiffs, the high court ordered only Tepco to pay about ¥110 million to 92 plaintiffs.
The lawsuit was filed by a total of 166 people from 55 households who evacuated to Kyoto Prefecture from Fukushima and other prefectures following the nuclear disaster. They demanded a total of about ¥800 million in compensation.
In a series of similar lawsuits, the Supreme Court ruled in June 2022 that the government is not liable for compensation.
In Wednesday's ruling, the high court suggested that it had been possible to predict a 15.7-meter tsunami based on data such as a long-term seismic risk assessment released in 2002 by the government's Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion.
Still, presiding Judge Kenji Maki noted that the magnitude 9.0 earthquake that occurred off the Pacific coast of northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, had been "much larger" than predicted in the seismic assessment.
Even if the government had required Tepco to implement adequate measures and the power company had complied, a large amount of seawater would have likely entered the nuclear plant, the judge said.
Meanwhile, the high court recognized that Tepco is responsible for compensation under the nuclear damage compensation law.
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