Japanese nuclear execs go on trial
KNEW RISKS BUT DIDN’T COUNTER THEM Plead not guilty after 2011 atomic accident left vast area uninhabitable.
Three former executives from the operator of Japan’s tsunami-stricken Fukushima nuclear plant went on trial yesterday, the only people to face a criminal court in connection with the 2011 meltdowns that left swathes of countryside uninhabitable.
Ex-Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) chairperson Tsunehisa Katsumata, 77, and former vicepresidents, Sakae Muto, 66, and Ichiro Takekuro, 71, all pleaded not guilty to charges of professional negligence resulting in death and injury more than six years after the worst atomic accident in a generation.
Katsumata told the Tokyo court it was impossible for him to have directly foreseen the risk of the towering waves that pummelled Japan’s northeast coast in March 2011. “I believe I don’t have a criminal responsibility,” he said.
The indictments are the only charges stemming from the tsunami-sparked reactor meltdowns at the plant that set off the worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl, in 1986. If convicted, the men face up to five years in prison or a penalty of up to one million yen (R117 723).
Prosecutors twice refused to press charges against the men, citing insufficient evidence. But a judicial review panel composed of ordinary citizens ruled in 2015 that they should go on trial.
The prosecutor told the court yesterday he would try to prove the three defendants were able to foresee the risk of a huge tsunami and failed to take necessary steps to counter the risk.
They were at safety meetings where experts presented the anticipated height of a tsunami occurring off the Fukushima coast, he said. They had access to data and studies pointing to the risk of a tsunami exceeding 10m in the area that could trigger power loss and severe accidents. “If they had fulfilled their responsibility to safety, the accident would have never occurred.” – AFP