A Tokyo district court has found four former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Company guilty of not exercising due care and failing to prevent the nuclear accident in their Fukushima Dai-ichi plant on March 11, 2011.
They are to pay $95 billion (13 trillion yen) in damages to the operator of the nuclear power plant.
The civil case was brought by shareholders of Tokyo Electric Power Company in 2012 and was decided on 13 July, 2022.
There was an earthquake which triggered a tsunami that inundated the plant.
The station was built on earthquake-proof technology and was not damaged.
The plant shutdown automatically but, the standby electric generator was submerged by the water and could not power the water pump to cool the reactors from residual heat.
This led to overheating and partial meltdown of the reactors, causing minor radiation leaks that necessitated the evacuation of the entire town.
No one died in the accident.
The four men can appeal the judgement. They may also be allowed by the suing shareholders to pay what they can afford, instead of the entire sum.
Three executives of Tokyo Electric Power Company, in a separate case in a Tokyo district court, were found not guilty of negligence for the nuclear accident in a 2019 judgement.
The court ruled that they could not have foreseen the tsunami that caused the damage.
That judgement is being appealed in a Tokyo High Court and a ruling is expected in 2023.
photo credit: cnn
