Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Officials Start Trial For 2011 Disaster

Three former Fukushima power plant officials were set to stand trial this week in connection to the 2011 nuclear disaster. After years of back and forth over whether to charge the men, three Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) executives were scheduled for a hearing Friday.

Former TEPCO chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata, 77, and former vice presidents Sakae Muto, 66, and Ichiro Takekuro, 71, were charged last with professional negligence resulting in death and injury last year, according to the Japan Times.

Read: Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Radiation Affected Everyone On Earth

Since the 2011 nuclear disaster, prosecutors argued over whether to indict the officials, refusing to charge them twice. Both times, prosecutors said there was insufficient evidence and little chance of a conviction. But when a judicial review panel comprised of regular citizens stepped in in 2015, it was ruled that the three men would be put on trial. Should the men be convicted, they face up to five years in prison or a fine of up to $9,000.

“We hope the trial will shed light on where the responsibility for this accident lies,” said Ruiko Muto, who leads a group that advocated for the trial, according to the Japan Times.

The nuclear disaster was the worst the world had seen since Ukraine’s Chernobyl meltdown in 1986. But despite the devastation, the meltdown itself was not officially recorded as having been responsible for anyone’s death. Instead, the charges against the three men were related to the deaths of more than 40 hospitalized patients who were evacuated in a hurry from Fukushima and later died.

“We want a verdict as soon as possible,” said Muto. “Some victims of this tragedy have died without seeing the start of the trial.”

In addition, executives were alleged to have ignored a study issued by TEPCO itself that said a large magnitude earthquake off the coast could decimate the plant. The International Atomic Energy Agency slammed Japan and TEPCO in 2015 for not taking the proper precautions to protect the plant in the event of an earthquake or tsunami and said TEPCO knew of increased estimates of tsunami height but failed to take the implement safety measures.

Six years after the accident, the company is still working to decommission the power plant and bring evacuated residents back to the area. The meltdown left a 310 square mile uninhabitable zone in the surrounding region, forcing 160,000 residents to abandon their homes.

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While residents have begun to trickle back, TEPCO still faced immense obstacles in its cleanup process. The company said in February workers were having difficulty locating the source of a spike in nuclear radiation, thought to be melted fuel debris inside one of the reactors. At one point, the company was forced to pull out its cleanup robots after they ceased to function due to exorbitant levels of radiation.

“The accident hasn’t been resolved,” said Muto. “There is nuclear waste from the cleanup efforts everywhere in Fukushima and there are still many unresolved problems.”