The Mito District Court on Tuesday dismissed a damages suit filed by a seafood processing firm in Ibaraki Prefecture against JCO Co., the operator of the uranium processing plant where Japan's worst nuclear accident occurred in September 1999.

Kajima Suisan had demanded that JCO, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., pay 37 million yen in compensation, charging that consumers shunned the prefecture's products out of radiation fears.

In handing down the ruling, presiding Judge Koichiro Matsumoto said there was insufficient evidence to determine damage had been inflicted.

"There is no sign (that the firm) tried to sell its products elsewhere, and the products were carelessly burned," he said.