Nuclear evacuees from the village of Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture, decided Sunday to ask a government dispute-settlement body to mediate their demand for higher compensation from Tokyo Electric Power Co.
More than 200 residents from the Nagadoro district, where 71 families comprising 280 people were forced to flee from the core meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, are expected to support the action, lawyers said after meeting with them.
The district is likely to be put into a new hot zone designation called "difficult to return for a long time" because the annual radiation dose there still tops 50 millisieverts.
A panel in the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry states in its compensation guidelines for the Fukushima disaster that ¥100,000 per month should be paid to every displaced resident for mental suffering.
The guidelines also state that residents in areas where annual exposure tops 50 millisieverts will be deemed unable to return for at least five years, and thus eligible for a lump-sum payment of about ¥6 million, which constitutes five years' worth of the monthly ¥100,000 payouts.
The lawyers' group said it will seek ¥350,000 per person per month and greater redress to cover living costs and other sorts of damage, such as for real estate.