Former managers were convicted in the previous instance for neglect that led to the disaster.
The key element of the dispute was that the then management of the security construction around the power plant was, despite the fact that in 2008 TEPCO analyzed the likelihood of hitting sea waves up to 15.7 m high, based on the government assessment of the risk of earthquakes from 2002.
Judge Toshikazu Cinema decided that the information available at the time did not give enough grounds to take urgent preventive measures, and The powerful tsunami, caused by the earthquake in 2011, was unpredictable.
Hyrojuki Kawai, a lawyer representing TEPCO shareholders who would allow former managers, criticized the ruling, stating that “this is a judgment that will lead to serious nuclear accidents in the future.” He announced an appeal.
Originally awarded, the penalty was to cover the costs of dismantling reactors and payment of compensation. It was the greatest punishment awarded in a civil trial in the history of Japan.
TEPCO refused to comment.
Fukushima disaster
On March 11, 2011, the Fukushima Power Plant on the banks of the Pacific was flooded by the tsunami waves measuring over 10 meters for over 10 meters, resulting from a magnitude 9 earthquake. As a result of a failure of the powers of the cooling system, three out of six reactors melted. It was the largest nuclear disaster in the world since the failure at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986.
The failure did not directly cause fatalities, but thousands of people died due to the hardships of evacuation and stress related to the loss of belongings and loved ones.
In March, the Japanese court maintained an acquittal of two other former TEPCO managers in the only criminal trial related to this disaster.
