NUCLEAIRES !JAPON, le 16 juillet 2007
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Court decision against govt in A-bomb sickness lawsuit expected to spur revisions KUMAMOTO -- The Kumamoto District Court on Monday scrapped the government's rejection of applications by 19 people seeking registration as atomic bomb sickness sufferers, the government's sixth loss in a series of similar lawsuits. A total of 21 people filed the lawsuit in the Kumamoto District Court, seeking annulment of the government's rejection of their applications. The court accepted the claims of 19 plaintiffs and ordered the government to reverse its rejection of their applications. But the court dismissed claims by two others, saying a connection between their illnesses and their exposure to atomic bomb radiation could not be established. It was the sixth lawsuit in which plaintiffs questioning the government's standards for acknowledging people as atomic-bomb radiation sufferers have won a case against the government. It was the first such lawsuit in Kyushu. The government's series of losses in the lawsuits is expected to hasten revision of the government's standards for recognizing sufferers of atomic-bomb radiation. (Mainichi) July 30, 2007 http://search.japantimes.co.jp/print/nn20070731a2.html Court repeals hibakusha nonrecognition KUMAMOTO (Kyodo) The Kumamoto District Court on Monday repealed most of a government decision not to recognize 21 people in Kumamoto Prefecture as radiation casualties of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Recognizing 19 of the 21 plaintiffs as suffering radiation-related ailments, presiding Judge Hiroshi Ishii said the government should comprehensively examine the application to be recognized as a victim by considering an applicant's exposure to the bombings and the person's life since then. The court expanded the scope of diseases covered to include diabetes and motor dysfunction, including osteoarthritis. But the court dismissed the plaintiffs' demands for 3 million yen each in compensation. It was the sixth court decision on similar suits filed across Japan by people not officially deemed as suffering from radiation-linked illnesses, in which the appropriateness of the government's recognition criteria is at issue. Courts have ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in all six suits. Under the criteria, the government decides if an applicant is a victim based on radiation exposure estimated by the person's distance from ground zero, using the DS86 dosimetry system as well as sex and age. Ishii said the criteria "bear a certain rationality as a whole" but also said they "should be just used as one of the factors to be considered" in the screening process. "There is a possibility that radiation exposure doses at least 1.3 km from the hypocenter are underestimated," he said, referring to cases of acute symptoms such as hair loss and vomiting even among those exposed far from the blasts and those entering the cities after the bombing. "It is inappropriate not to consider internal exposure through the taking of residual radiation into the body," he added. In a statement, lawyers for the plaintiffs said the ruling "calls for a fundamental review of the government recognition system that discards hibakusha. We strongly request that the government abandon filing an appeal and review its management of the matter." The ruling is likely to affect discussions by the Liberal Democratic Party's policy panel, which plans to come up with broader redress for ailing A-bomb survivors as early as late August. The plaintiffs were six survivors of the Hiroshima bombing and 15 people who lived through the Nagasaki attack. They were exposed to radiation 1 km to 4.5 km from the blasts. Six are deceased. Although they have developed cancer, thyroid dysfunction and other health problems, their requests to be certified as having radiation disease, which would entitle them to 137,000 yen a month in special medical allowances, were turned down between 2002 and 2005. The plaintiffs argued that internal exposure to residual radiation is underestimated under the current criteria and their ailments are attributable to nothing but radiation, citing cases of acute symptoms such as hair loss and vomiting even among those who were far from ground zero. The Japan Times: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 http://search.japantimes.co.jp/print/nn20070731a4.html Seismic acceleration 2.5 times reactor's specs Kyodo News Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Monday that seismic acceleration detected at one of the reactors of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power plant reached a maximum horizontal acceleration of 2,058 gals when the powerful earthquake hit Niigata Prefecture on July 16 — about 2.5 times higher than the plant was designed to withstand. Tepco had already announced that the seismic acceleration detected at the plant was much higher than the levels it had planned for at the facility's seven reactors. Sensors at five of the reactors registered seismic acceleration of more than 1,000 gals. A gal, a metric unit of acceleration, is defined as 1 cm per second per second. Tepco said the data from the power plant's seismometers is preliminary. It will conduct further examinations for a detailed analysis, including on how equipment at the facility may have been affected by the shaking. (suite)
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Earlier in the month, the company said acceleration of 680 gals was detected in the fifth underground level of the No. 1 reactor building — a level equivalent to about 2.5 times the acceleration level it was designed for. The Japan Times: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070731TDY02004.htm Train operations resume in Kashiwazaki The Yomiuri Shimbun Train services in parts of Niigata Prefecture got back on track Monday after having been out of service since a powerful earthquake struck the area on July 16. Tracks on the JR Shinetsu Line between Kashiwazaki Station in Kashiwazaki and Miyauchi Station in Nagaoka, both in Niigata Prefecture, were damaged by the Niigata Prefecture Chuetsu Offshore Earthquake. With the resumption of services, which means the heavily hit city of Kashiwazaki is once again connected to the Joetsu Shinkansen line via Nagaoka Station, recovery from the quake is expected to accelerate. Trains on the reopened section will operate at reduced speeds for the time being due to rail replacements at Echigo-Hirota Station in Kashiwazaki. Operations also are expected to resume on the JR Echigo Line between Kashiwazaki Station and Yoshida Station in Tsubame by mid-August. However, it is still unknown when operations will resume on the Shinetsu Line between Kashiwazaki Station and Kakizaki Station in Joetsu. Meanwhile, water supply in Kashiwazaki was available to 98 percent of the city as of 9 a.m. Monday. Water supply to 1,300 households, or 97 percent, in Kariwamura is expected to resume soon, according to the prefectural government. Gas supply has been restored to 15 percent of the households in Kashiwazaki and Kariwamura and is expected to be near 100 percent sometime around Aug. 10. Meanwhile, Tokyo Electric Power Co. Vice President Ichiro Takekuro arrived at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture on Monday in a rare decision by the utility to dispatch a board member to one of its power plants. Takekuro's first task is to assist power plant head Akio Takahashi and assess the extent of damage the earthquake caused to the plant and the status of recovery. His chief duty is to negotiate with local governments and institutions concerned and strengthen public relations activities. Takekuro is one of TEPCO's vice presidents in charge of nuclear energy and site locations. He served as head of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant from 2001 to 2004. (Jul. 31, 2007) http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200707300304.html For 6th straight time, court rules in favor of A-bomb victims 07/30/2007 THE ASAHI SHIMBUN KUMAMOTO--A court here Monday criticized the government's certification standards and ruled that 19 plaintiffs deserve recognition as sufferers of illnesses caused by radiation from the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Kumamoto District Court's ruling represents the sixth straight loss for the central government in lawsuits filed by groups of hibashuka, or survivors of the atomic bombings. The decision will likely increase pressure on the government to revise its standards in recognizing radiation illnesses caused by the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing of Hiroshima or the attack three days later in Nagasaki. Certified patients are entitled to special medical benefits. In Monday's ruling, 21 plaintiffs in Kumamoto Prefecture sought the nullification of the state's rejection of their applications for recognition as patients of atomic bomb illnesses. "There are some problems concerning the state's screening methods," Presiding Judge Hiroshi Ishii said in handing down the ruling. The court acknowledged a cause-and-effect relationship between exposure to radiation and the symptoms of 19 plaintiffs. But the court rejected their demands for 3 million yen ($25,294) each in government compensation. The ruling said the state's certification standards, which involve the "probability" of radiation causing illness, are reasonable to a certain degree. The probability is calculated based on such factors as the amount of radiation the hibakusha were exposed to, their age and gender. However, the court pointed out flaws in the system. "There is a possibility that the radiation quantity at a spot at least 1,300 meters from ground zero was recorded at a level lower than the actual level," the ruling said. "The state's standards fail to consider the results of internal exposure from residual radiation." The court said the "probability" system should not be the only element to consider when determining a relationship between illnesses and exposure to radiation from the atomic bombings. Other factors that must be taken into account are the conditions under which hibakusha were exposed to during the atomic bombings, their actions after the attacks, and whether they suffered from acute symptoms, the ruling said. The court, however, rejected the claims of two plaintiffs suffering from hepatitis C and other illnesses. The ruling said the radiation exposure had a limited influence in causing their diseases. The court for the first time also acknowledged the causal effects of radiation exposure from the atomic bombs concerning arthrosis and spondylosis deformans, as well as diabetes, a disease not covered by special medical benefits under the hibashuka certification system.(IHT/Asahi: July 30,2007) |
