Japan Press Weekly

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2011 April 27 - May 10 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

TEPCO should compensate all evacuees: JCP Daimon

Japanese Communist Party Upper House member Daimon Mikishi on April 28 demanded that the government require that Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) pay compensation to all residents who were ordered to evacuate by their municipal offices due to the Fukushima nuclear accident.

The government on April 15 ordered TEPCO to swiftly provide compensation to evacuees living within 30 km from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. The electric company began making the payments to them on April 26.

At the House of Councilors financial committee meeting, Daimon pointed out that the 30km line of demarcation has brought great confusion in some municipalities on the border of the 30km zone. He called on the government to remove the limitation to the designated line in order to provide payment of emergency compensation to all evacuees.

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On the same day, TEPCO president Shimizu Masataka indicated that his company may be exempt from providing compensation for damages caused by the nuclear accidents.

The nuclear damage compensation law states that plant operators will be exempt from paying compensation if the damage is caused by an exceptionally grave natural disaster. Shimizu’s remark was made based on this stipulation in the law.