Supporters of the six plaintiffs gathered for a rally in support of them in front of the courthouse in Tokyo. Six young Japanese people have sued the operator of the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant after developing thyroid cancer. They believe that the 2011 nuclear disaster is the cause of their illness.
The plaintiffs, who were between the ages of 6 and 16 at the time of the accident at the Japanese nuclear power plant, claim that they developed cancer as a result of radiation exposure. None of the plaintiffs, who are now between the ages of 17 and 27, had a family history of thyroid cancer. All had surgery to remove part or all of the thyroid gland.
“Some of the plaintiffs find it difficult to obtain higher education and find a job, they have had to give up their dreams of the future,” Kenichi Ido, the lawyer for the victims, told Agence France-Presse. Now they are trying to prove that the radiation caused cancer and are seeking $5.4 million in compensation from the operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco). Tepco’s representative has so far limited his comments to saying that the company is aware of the lawsuit and will provide more detailed comments once it sees the details of the lawsuit.
This is what the tsunami looked like off the coast of Japan in March 2011. The “Fukushima-1” nuclear disaster occurred on March 11, 2011, when a powerful earthquake in northeastern Japan triggered a tsunami. The water flooded the plant’s basement, which housed distribution equipment, backup generators, and batteries, causing a complete power outage and failure of the plant’s emergency cooling systems. This is the largest incident at a nuclear power plant since the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986. However, it is considered less destructive to the health of the local population because a much smaller amount of radioactive iodine was released. At the same time, the long-term effects of radiation remain controversial.
Last year, a group of UN experts concluded that the natural disaster did not cause any direct health problems for the population. And the World Health Organization’s 2013 report states that the disaster will not cause a significant increase in cancer incidence in the region. And in 2018, the Japanese government acknowledged that one worker died from radiation exposure and agreed that his family should receive compensation.
The lawsuit filed by six Japanese teenagers has attracted a lot of attention in Japan. Despite reassuring official data, many people evacuated from the area where “Fukushima-1” is located still do not believe it is safe there and refuse to return to their homes more than ten years after the disaster.