Japan Press Weekly

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2013 January 9 - 15 TOP3 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

Fukushima residents angry at TEPCO’s plan to end compensation

People in Fukushima are angry that Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, is planning to stop paying compensation to the nuclear accident victims in the prefecture.

The power company in December 2012 framed a policy to put an end to across-the-board compensation to the residents of 32 municipalities within the prefecture which are not designated as evacuation areas.

Hozumi Junko, 33, raises two little daughters in Fukushima City. She is expecting to have another child in March. “We have not yet recovered our previous daily life. It is outrageous for TEPCO to cut off the compensation.”

The operator unilaterally set the amount of compensation at 120,000 yen for pregnant women and children 18 years of age and under, and 40,000 yen for all others. TEPCO plans to terminate payments on the grounds that airborne radiation doses have decreased since the accident.

Though the radiation levels have decreased, many residents in Fukushima still cannot air their clothes or bedding outside. Children are not allowed to play outdoors beyond a prescribed time limit, affecting their physical growth seriously. When a day care center in the city held its sports day, many children aged five years were unable to clear the hurdles in an obstacle race.

“Before the accident, children used to run around in the hills and fields. It is painful to see them having to play with uncontaminated fallen leaves and acorns sent from supporters outside the prefecture,” said Hozumi.

Saito Yoshiharu, a representative of a joint center for the restoration of Fukushima, stated, “With the passage of time, people are increasingly suffering hardships instead of recovering from traumas. We will continue working for the realization of thorough decontamination, full reparations, and decommissioning of all nuclear reactors in the country.”

Japanese Communist Party members of the Fukushima Prefectural Assembly in late December demanded that the prefectural authorities request TEPCO to cancel its plan.


Related past article
> Fukushima N-accident victims push TEPCO & gov’t for compensation [November 20 & 21, 2012]