Acquittal of TEPCO Executives Not to Encourage Complacency

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Tokyo's High Court has dismissed the claims of shareholders in a lawsuit they filed seeking compensation from former senior managers of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). Plaintiffs had argued that senior executives were responsible for the 2011 major accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. The accident followed the massive March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.

A lower court ordered four former executives to pay more than ¥13 trillion JPY ($89.5 billion USD) in damages. But the High Court overturned that ruling and did not recognize any legal liability on the part of the former executives. That was the correct decision.

A Look Into the Arguments

TEPCO management's response to the "long-term assessment" was the main point of argument. That report was published by the government's Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion in 2002.

Based on this assessment, a subsidiary of TEPCO estimated that a tsunami of up to 15.7 meters could reach the nuclear power plant. From this, the shareholders argued that the former executives knew about the possibility of a massive tsunami but failed to implement adequate safety measures.

*Decommissioning work is shown at Unit 1 of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.*

In response, the Tokyo High Court ruled that to prevent any possibility of an accident, the nuclear plant would have had to be shut down and construction of tsunami countermeasures ordered. However, the long-term assessment in and of itself was insufficient as a basis for issuing such an order. The court concluded that the former executives' lack of a sense of urgency about the risk of a tsunami was only to be expected.

Supreme Court's Related Decision

Electric power companies are legally obligated to supply electricity. Unless the long-term assessment had sufficient credibility based on clear evidence, it would have been difficult to stop operations. Consequently, the court concluded it was difficult to hold the former management team legally responsible for the disaster.

This latest ruling is in line with a previous Supreme Court decision concerning a related criminal trial. A lay prosecution committee had indicted the former TEPCO executives on charges of professional negligence resulting in death and injury.

In its March 2025 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the former executives were innocent. The court declared that the "opinion of the long-term assessment cannot be said to have been information of a nature that would lead people to recognize the realistic possibility of a tsunami attack."

Therefore, the Tokyo High Court ruled that the former TEPCO executives were innocent of the charges. Moreover, the ¥13 trillion in compensation ordered by the first trial court is an astronomical amount. It exceeds the ability of individuals to pay and is totally unrealistic.

*A massive tsunami hits Northeast Japan* *following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake*.

Duty to Implement Safety Measures

Nevertheless, power companies that own nuclear power plants must be aware of their heavy responsibility to prevent accidents. They have a duty to make every effort to implement safety measures.

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident was a radioactive disaster unprecedented anywhere in the world. Multiple reactors were simultaneously damaged. At the height of the crisis, around 160,000 people were evacuated, and residents of nearby areas suffered various forms of severe damage.

For a resource-poor country like Japan, nuclear power is a core power source essential for our energy security. But if we are to make effective use of nuclear power, it is necessary to nip risks in the bud by implementing thorough safety measures. Electric power companies should always keep this point uppermost in mind.

Author: Editorial Board, The Sankei Shimbun

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