Japan Press Weekly

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2011 March 23 - 29 [POLITICS]

TEPCO should use all its accumulated internal reserves to compensate victims

The government will use taxpayer money to compensate for damages originally attributed to the “safety myth” of nuclear plants that successive governments have long touted. Who else could condone such nonsense?

Japanese Communist Party representative Daimon Mikishi has demanded that before any tax injection, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) use its internal reserves of two trillion yen to compensate victims for the damage from the radiation leakage.

On March 28 at a House of Councilors Budget Committee meeting, Daimon took up the compensation issue in regard to the nation’s worst nuclear accidents at TEPCO’s Fukushima No.1 Nuclear Power Plant.

Daimon said, “Farmers in Fukushima Prefecture are suffering from the damage caused by the massive quake, tsunami, nuclear accidents, and fear of contaminated food.”

He pointed out that an indemnity agreement between the government and power companies requires the latter to yearly pay the state 36 million yen per nuclear plant in case of the need for compensation from nuclear damages while the state covers up to 120 billion yen per plant for compensation.

The JCP representative criticized the agreement as being based on the “safety myth” that a nuclear plant will not cause a serious accident.

Daimon stated, “TEPCO has accumulated two trillion yen in internal reserves. The government should use tax revenues only after TEPCO utilizes its internal reserves. If not, the usage of tax money cannot be condoned.”