Arab News Japan

TOKYO: On the 13th anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, nearly 300 people gathered in front of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) headquarters on the evening of March 11 and demanded that the former executives of the company be criminally convicted.

In front of the company building, speeches brought together several citizens who face the problems caused by nuclear accidents at a time when the Japanese government has decided on a policy of restarting old nuclear reactors.

The recent Noto earthquake on the northern coast of Japan caused damage to the Shiga nuclear power plant and the poor communication of operating company Hokuriku electric, which did not communicate the nature of the damage to the public, brought back bad memories of the disaster in Fukushima, where the government and TEPCO tried to hide the seriousness of the disaster.

A speaker from Shiga also condemned the evacuation plan and made the connection with what happened 13 years ago in Fukushima, where defense measures such as an anti-tsunami wall were inadequate or didn’t exist.

Other speakers mentioned the concrete of the new anti-tsunami dam at the Tokai Daini power station in Ibaraki, which, they said, was inadequate and pointed out that the concrete reinforcements have already deformed despite not being tested by a tsunami.

After a meeting, a small delegation hand-delivered two petitions to delegates from TEPCO. In one of the petitions, a citizen activist mentioned that the nuclear disaster was still ongoing and that it was of human origin.

Since the nuclear disaster, many other concerns have remained unresolved, such as releasing contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean and thyroid cancer that has affected more than 360 children and young adults.