Japanese Fukushima locals protest handling of nuclear crisis

More than a hundred locals in the Japanese city of Fukushima have taken to the streets to protest the government’s negligent handling of a nuclear crisis at a local plant.

During the Friday protest, participants demanded that the government as well as the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) — the operator of the plant — be held accountable for a 2011 nuclear crisis.

Most protesters said the 2011 nuclear disaster, caused by a massive tsunami, has deeply affected their lives.

The demonstrators marched toward the local court while carrying placards reading, “Return my job; return my homeland.”

The local court in Fukushima issued a verdict on October 10, 2017, declaring that the government in Tokyo and the TEPCO should be held liable for the nuclear accident. It ordered a compensation of 490 million yen (4.589 million dollars) for the local residents. The Japanese government, however, refused to accept the court’s verdict.

Nearly 10,000 Japanese victims of the Fukushima nuclear leak have now decided to seek legal means to protect their rights.

“Now the verdict only comes from a local court. [Both the government and the TEPCO] denied their legal liability and we hope that these activities will make them know and bear the legal liability,” said one protester.

Moreover, a representative of the plaintiff’s lawyers group, Izutaro Managi, said, “[The government and the TEPCO] have refused to change their positions, that is, they think that they should not be held responsible. We hold that the government and the TEPCO should be responsible because it could have been avoided. [They] had the term of reference to take actions to prevent the accident, but they failed to perform their duties.”

Another protester said, “What I care most about is that the government and the TEPCO have not been called to account. There is no way of tolerating such a refusal to account for such a major incident.”

“I hope [the government and the TEPCO] would do well in removing the nuclear pollutants so that we will live a secure life as soon as possible,” said yet another protester.

The development came nearly a month after TEPCO detected lethal levels of radiation at the nuclear power plant, seven years after it was destroyed by an earthquake and tsunami.

The energy firm made the discovery in a reactor containment vessel in January, local news outlets report, noting that TEPCO found eight sieverts per hour of radiation, while 42 units were also detected outside its foundations.

A sievert is the probability of cancer induction and genetic damage from exposure to a dose of radiation, as defined by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). One sievert is believed to carry with it a 5.5 percent chance of developing cancer.

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