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2011 July 20 - 26 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

Member of 3rd party body of Fukushima accident defends TEPCO in TEPCO suits

A member of a third-party institution that supervises the TEPCO Accident Investigation Verification Commission has been representing TEPCO in several lawsuits over TEPCO’s role in the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

The revelation has raised a question about the neutrality of the third-party organ.

Akahata on July 23 reported that the person in question was a retired judge and now offers a defense of TEPCO, for example, in a lawsuit filed in Hokkaido to seek an injunction of the operations at TEPCO’s Fukushima Nos.1 and 2 plants and a pain-and-suffering lawsuit filed in Tokyo over the Fukushima accident.

The judge-turned attorney is a member of the Nuclear Safety and Quality Assurance Council which deliberates on safe management of nuclear power stations. The Fukushima accident investigative commission was set by TEPCO under this council in June.