The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office on Sept. 9 announced that it would not indict any of the 42 people against whom accusations and complaints had been filed in connection with the disaster at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, which was triggered by the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami. But most of these individuals, especially former Tepco officials and former officials of nuclear regulation and overseeing organizations, should not think that they share no responsibility for the nuclear disaster.
The prosecution cleared former Prime Minister Naoto Kan, former trade and industry minister Banri Kaieda (now Democratic Party of Japan chief), former Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano and Mr. Shunsuke Kondo, head of the Nuclear Energy Commission, of any suspicion. The prosecution said that others, including former Tepco Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata, former Tepco President Masataka Shimizu, former Nuclear Safety Commission head Mr. Haruki Madarame and former Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency chief Mr. Nobuaki Terasaka, would not be indicted due to a lack of evidence. These individuals should realize that the prosecution's decision only means that it was difficult for it to prove their professional negligence given the nature of the Criminal Code, which requires strict conditions for indictment on charges of professional negligence resulting in deaths and injuries.
The decision has angered many members of the public, especially residents of Fukushima Prefecture. They will view the fact that no officials of Tepco and nuclear regulatory and safety bodies are to be indicted as absurd given the fact that some 150,000 Fukushima residents remain evacuees, that more than 1,500 people have reportedly died due to health conditions triggered by the evacuation, and that the nuclear plant continues to leak radioactive substances into the environment even now.