Japan Press Weekly

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2015 November 4 - 10 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Small business owners in Fukushima urge TEPCO and gov’t to continue compensating for N-accident damage

A group of local small business owners calling for full compensation for damages caused by the 2011 nuclear accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant negotiated with Tokyo Electric Power Company and the Industry Ministry on November 9 to demand that TEPCO cancel its plan to terminate compensation payments.

TEPCO reportedly intends to put an end to paying compensation although the nuclear disaster has yet to be brought under control. The central government is allegedly taking a stance to accept TEPCO’s move.

In the negotiation, the small business owners’ group took up the issue that the Fukushima NPP operator is requesting nuclear accident-affected business operators to agree with its proposal to make a lump-sum payment equivalent to the amount of business damages expected to be paid for two years from this August.

Criticizing TEPCO for using this ploy to discontinue compensation payment after the lump-sum payment is made, the group demanded that this proposal be shelved. However, the utility rejected the demand. “TEPCO should pay compensation for as long as we suffer from damages,” the participating business owners said.

Japanese Communist Party lawmakers, Kurabayashi Akiko (Upper House) and Fujino Yasufumi (Lower House) also joined in the negotiation.

Past related articles:
> JCP efforts pressure TEPCO to continue compensating affected businesses for Fukushima nuclear damage[February 26 & March 4, 2015]
> Fukushima residents angry at TEPCO’s plan to end compensation [January 15, 2013]