Ex-TEPCO leaders stand trial for Fukushima nuclear disaster
TOKYO — Three former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Co apologized in court on Friday for the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, but they pleaded not guilty to charges of professional negligence.
Tsunehisa Katsumata, the 77-year-old ex-chairman of TEPCO, and two former vicepresidents said they don’t think they bear criminal responsibility, because they couldn’t predict the enormous tsunami that flooded the plant.
That issue was expected to be the crux of their trial, the first to consider whether officials of the utility can be held criminally responsible.
TEPCO itself has not been charged.
The trial got underway at Tokyo District Court and is likely to take more than a year.
A prosecutor told the court the three defendants had access to data and studies anticipating the risk of a tsunami exceeding 10 meters that could trigger a loss of power and severe accidents.
“They continued running the reactors without taking any measures whatsoever,” the prosecutor said. “If they had fulfilled their safety responsibilities, the accident would never have occurred.”
Lawyers in Japanese trials are generally not identified.
Three reactors had meltdowns, and radiation spread into surrounding communities after the nuclear plant north of Tokyo was hit by a powerful earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011.
Tens of thousands of residents were forced to evacuate, and some areas remain uninhabitable.
“I apologize for the tremendous trouble to the residents in the area because of the serious accident that caused the release of radioactive materials,” Katsumata said.
He and his co-defendants, Sakae Muto, 67, and Ichiro Takekuro, 71, said they couldn’t foresee the disaster.
“When I recall that time, I still think it was impossible to anticipate an accident like that,” Muto said. “I believe I have no criminal responsibility over the accident.”
The former officials are accused of not taking sufficient preventive measures despite being aware of the risk of a major tsunami at least two years before it happened.