Japan Press Weekly

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2013 June 5 - 11 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

Lawyers call for new framework for nuclear accident damage compensation

Legal experts in a symposium on June 8 called for a new legal framework for compensation for the Fukushima nuclear accident.

The Japan Federation of Bar Associations organized the symposium and had an attendance of about 180 lawyers and evacuees.

Professor emeritus at Rikkyo University (St. Paul’s College) Awaji Takehisa in his keynote speech pointed out that damage caused by the Fukushima accident is unprecedented in terms of extent, continuity, and severity. “The existing legal framework used in such cases as traffic accidents doesn’t suit nuclear accident compensation,” he said.

Lawyer Kojima Nobuo spoke about his experience as a mediator at the Nuclear Damage Claim Dispute Resolution Center, an alternative dispute resolution organ. Kojima said, “Compensation payment under the existing legal framework is insufficient for the evacuees to purchase houses at locations where they currently live.”

Citing the difference between actual damage and compensation payment, Osaka City University professor Yokemoto Masafumi emphasized the need to provide compensation to those who lost their communities.