FUKUSHIMA -- Police here will refer Tokyo Electric Power Co.
(TEPCO) and 32 current and former TEPCO executives to prosecutors in
connection with leaks of toxic water into the Pacific in the
aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, investigative
sources say.
The police will send papers on the case to the Fukushima District
Public Prosecutors' Office on suspicion TEPCO and the executives
violated the environmental pollution offense law.
Among the 32 individuals are TEPCO President Naomi Hirose, former
Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata and former President Masataka Shimizu.
They are suspected of being negligent in their duties and releasing
radioactively contaminated water into the ocean from the crippled
Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant.
An initial criminal complaint accusing TEPCO executives of
professional negligence resulting in injury or death was filed
jointly by individuals and representatives of a citizens' group. In
September 2013, the same complainants filed with the Fukushima police
against the TEPCO executives on suspicion of violating the
environmental pollution offense law.
The complaint says the central government ordered TEPCO to build
underground walls to prevent leaks of contaminated groundwater, but
that TEPCO postponed taking the measure, citing costs and other
reasons. Furthermore, the complaint accuses TEPCO of using weak water
storage tanks resulting in the leak of some 300 metric tons of
contaminated water, and of insufficient monitoring measures that led
to the delayed discovery of the leak and increasing the volume of
water that escaped.
Source: Mainichi
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20151002p2a00m0na016000c.html
