Japan Press Weekly

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2011 August 3 - 16 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

TEPCO: Compensating for radioactive contaminated straw is like ‘fishing in troubled waters’

A magazine promoting the views of the electric power lobby ran an article criticizing Fukushima dairy farmers, who demand compensation for losses due to suspension of shipments of beef cattle which may have eaten straw contaminated with radioactive cesium from the Fukushima NPP, for attempting to “fish in troubled waters.”

This article describes Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) as a victim and intends to shift to the state government the company’s responsibility to pay compensation.

The magazine is a monthly organ of a research institute that nine electric power companies, including TEPCO, and the Electric Power Development Co., Ltd. jointly established. The article appeared in the August issue of the magazine.

The article states that cattle farmers near the Fukushima NPP should have been informed by the government that the straw which had been placed in unroofed areas may have been affected by radioactive fallout. It blames the government for failing to distribute to the farmers information about proper storage of straw so they could have protected straw from radioactive cesium contamination.

The article also states that to put only on TEPCO the responsibility to compensate farmers for the ban on shipments of cows fed the contaminated straw allows the government to evade its responsibility.

The article condemns the government for shifting the blame to TEPCO by taking advantage of the public anger toward the utility.

About 300 large corporations, including NPP-related manufacturers and major construction companies, are also members of the institute. TEPCO ex-chair Araki Hiroshi used to be a chair of the institute.