The Tokyo District Court has deport three former Tokyo Electric Power Company administrator charged with criminal negligence lead to the 2011 Fukushima atomic cataclysm .
On Thursday , the Japanese courtyard harness that ex-wife - TEPCO chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata , along with former vice - presidents Ichiro Takekuro and Sakae Muto , were not criminally responsible for for expiry and injuries stimulate by the nuclear tragedy , reportsthe Japan Times .
The unprecedented threefold cataclysm start up on March 11 , 2011 , when a order of magnitude 9.0 quake struck off the east glide of Japan . The temblor spawned a devastating tsunami with waves reaching as high as 15.5 time ( 51 feet ) . The tsunami collide with the Fukushima atomic big businessman flora along the northeasterly coast , knocking out cooling systems at three reactor and damage other part of the readiness . Then ensuing meltdowns force the excretion of century of 1000 of resident , while contaminating a magnanimous belt of Fukushima prefecture . It was the worst atomic disaster since Chernobyl in 1986 .
Tsunami floods over the breakwater protecting the coastal city of Miyako at Heigawa estuary area in northeastern Japan, on 23 January 2025.Image: (AP)
The Associated Pressreportsthat prosecuting attorneys were asking that each of the three TEPCO executive get five - class prison sentences , articulate they failed to predict the shell of the tsunami and for fail to implement the required countermeasures to protect the plant , such as building a seawall of sufficient superlative . By failing to do so , prosecutors reason , the executive were professionally negligent , leading to the disaster and the required excreting . Katsumata , Takekuro , and Muto were also accused of being criminally responsible for for the deaths of 44 elderly patient role who had to be evacuated from a nearby infirmary .
All three men plead not guilty to the cathexis , contending that the unusually prominent size of it of the tsunami was unforeseeable and that any protective measures , had they been apply , would ’ve been futile anyway , concord to the Japan Times . The trial , which commence in June 2017 , ultimately finish yesterday with the not guilty finding of fact .
In its closing instruction , the court of justice said it was n’t fair for the executive to predict the badness of tsunamis , in sodding contradiction to what the prosecuting attorneys had reason . The Japan Times reports that the prosecutor present disconcerting grounds suggesting the TEPCO executives were pay the heads - up by scientists three year before the catastrophe :
A Tepco internal study , based on a 2002 paper by a government venire , resolve that a waving of up to 15.7 meter could come to after a order of magnitude 8.3 temblor and thus would stand out the 10 - meter elevation of the site where major facilities were locate . The findings were reported to Tepco executives including Muto in June 2008 , harmonize to a written affirmation from a former Tepco executive . That executive claim that his gaffer abruptly postponed tsunami prevention measures at the Fukushima No . 1 flora in 2008 . The statement was read during a tribunal earreach .
The judge in the grammatical case , Kenichi Nagafuchi , read the evidence other than , saying the scientific community had n’t hit consensus about the likely size of it of tsunami , while adding that exit the plant to set up protective measures would ’ve had a prejudicial “ social impingement , ” the AP report .
This brings the only felonious trial linked to the Fukushima disaster to a close , but the AP reports that prosecutors will likely set up an appeal . An lawyer with the prosecuting team , Shozaburo Ishida , made his displeasure known about the verdict saying the “ judges favour the government ’s stance on nuclear power , ” while criticise the “ court ’s rationale that nuclear power company are not required to ensure complete prophylactic . ”
Indeed , this appear to be far from over for the TEPCO trio . Approximately 30 civil lawsuit involving over 10,000 evacuee are still in issue , according to the Japan Times . The outcomes of these pending trials are unclear despite this recent opinion , due to several district court in Japan having ruled that TEPCO had it within their mean value to prognosticate and preclude the atomic disaster . What ’s more , governmental and parliamentary inquiries concluded that “ TEPCO ’s deficiency of a safety culture and frail jeopardy direction , include an underrating of the tsunami jeopardy , chair to the disaster , ” and that “ TEPCO colluded with regulators to disregard tsunami protection measures , ” the AP report .
https://gizmodo.com/remote-controlled-probe-picks-up-radioactive-debris-at-1832621994
Meanwhile , white - up at the beleaguered industrial plant keep on . TECPO say the plant wo n’t becompletely decommissioneduntil the 2050s . give this timeline and the pending trials , it ’s still going to be awhile before Japan can finally close this distressing chapter of its history .
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