Compensation claims in nuclear accident to total 10 billion yen: report
TOKYO: The company that ran the uranium-processing plant where Japan's worst
nuclear accident took place will receive compensation claims totaling about
10 billion yen (dlrs 93 million), Kyodo News agency reported Sunday.
The Sept. 30, 1999 accident at the JCO Co. facility in Tokaimura, 110
kilometers (70 miles) northeast of Tokyo, killed one worker and exposed
hundreds of people to radiation.
Officials in Tokaimura calculated the compensation on Saturday following
negotiations between JCO and local residents and businesses, Kyodo said.
JCO spokesman Katsunori Suzuki declined to comment on the figure but said
JCO plans to announce this week the total amount of claims received so far.
The amounts for 3,634 cases - about 85 percent of all cases -have so far
been agreed on, Kyodo said, quoting officials involved with the talks that
it did not identify.
Suzuki said that the company hopes to settle remaining claims by March 31,
the end of the fiscal year.
JCO at the end of last year had already paid compensation of 5.3 billion yen
(dlrs 49.3 million), Suzuki said.
JCO and its parent company, Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., will pay for the
claims using company funds and money from a 1-billion-yen (dlrs 9.3 million)
insurance policy, Kyodo said.
The accident happened when workers violated safety regulations by mixing
nitric acid and enriched uranium in buckets, setting off an uncontrolled
atomic reaction that went on for hours.
One plant worker died in December. Two other workers were seriously injured.
(AP)
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