A district court in Japan last week ruled top executives at Tokyo Electric Power Co. are personally liable for 13 trillion yen, the equivalent of (U.S.) $95 billion, in connection with the meltdown of three Fukushima Daiichi reactors in Mach 2011 following a powerful tsunami, news organizations reported.
A key finding in the ruling was that four executives, including the then-president of Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) could have predicted a serious accident following a major tsunami, according to a Wednesday report by The Guardian.
The court reported the top bosses could have prevented the nuclear disaster had they exercised more precautions, according to a Reuters account that ran on NBC News outlets. The civil case was brought by shareholders of the electric utility and is believed to be the first time executives have been found individually responsible for the disaster, according to the article.
The Tokyo Electric executives were cleared of criminal charges following a trial in 2019.
Three Fukushima reactor units melted down in March 2011 after a tsunami wave was too high for the nuclear plant’s protective seawalls.
The tsunami came on the heels of a major earthquake and disabled the power supply and cooling of three Fukushima Daiichi reactors. All three cores largely melted in the first three days. The value of all four reactors were written off due to damage from the accident.
Spent fuel removal is complete at reactor units 3 and 4 at the Fukushima site while preparation is underway for removal of spent fuel from units 1 and 2, according to a section within a 47-page English version of a TEPCO investor presentation in April. “Fuel debris retrieval” is underway at units 1, 2 and 3, according to the document.
