Lawsuit filed against manufacturers of melt-down nuclear reactors in Fukushima

A lawsuit was filed at the Tokyo District Court on Jan. 30 against three companies that manufactured reactors of Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant of Tokyo Electricity Power Company (TEPCO) that melt down subsequent to the earthquake and tsunami that hit the northeastern region of Japan on March 11, 2011. 1415 plaintiffs from 33 countries demand General Electric, Toshiba and Hitachi to compensate for the damages caused as a result of the melt-down. A number of lawsuits have been filed since the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, but reactor manufacturers were accused in none of these cases previously due to the Act on Compensation for Nuclear Damages that stipulates only electricity operators should be held responsible for any damages caused by accidents at nuclear power plants. The reactor manufacturers are not only enjoying immunity from liability in the Fukushima disaster but planning to increase profits from nuclear business with reactor exports. The lawsuit is targeting at the whole structure of protection for the nuclear industry and their vested interests in particular. The plaintiffs team advocates "no nukes right," the right to life free from fears of nuclear power, on the basis of right to the pursuit of happiness in the article 13 of the Constitution and other relevant constitutional rights. They aim at building nuclear-free world with solidarity among citizens across national borders and ethnicities and through struggles against all kinds of discriminations and oppressions generating from the current nation state system that protects the nuclear industry's vested interests. (Based on the report by SATO Kazuyuki on the awareness-raising meeting in Tokyo on Feb. 11, organized by the plaintiffs team.)

The plaintiffs team's web site in English   

２．１１「原発メーカー訴訟」報告＆説明会

2月11日、東京の品川きゅりあん会議室において、「原発メーカー訴訟　報告＆説明会」 が開催されました。主催は「原発メーカー訴訟の会」で、参加者は約40人。「原発メーカー 訴訟」は、福島第１原発の原子炉を製造した米ゼネラル・エレクトリック、東芝、日立の３ 社を相手に33か国1415人が損害賠償を求めるもので、すでに１月30日、東京地裁に提 訴されました。

フクシマ原発事故で多くの訴訟が起こされていますが、原発メーカーの責任を問うものは ありませんでした。電力事業者以外に賠償責任を負わせないとする「責任集中制度」を定 めた原子力損害賠償法があるからです。しかし、原発メーカーは全く責任を問われない 中、原発輸出で利益増大を図っています。したがって、原子力体制を崩すためには、その 「原子力ムラ」の中枢に切り込むしかありません。そこで、憲法13条の幸福追求権などを 根拠に、「原子力の恐怖から免れて生きる権利」(ノー・ニュークス権)を宣言し、国籍・民族 を越えて市民が連帯して、核兵器・核発電(原発)の廃絶を目指します。同時に、原発体制 とそれを維持する国民国家体制によって生み出される、あらゆる差別・抑圧に抵抗する闘 いとなります。