In what could be a historical milestone related to the Fukushima nuclear power plant meltdown in March 2011, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) has been slapped with a lawsuit by no other than a worker who used to work in the crippled facility.
The 48-year-old worker, part of a 6-man team sent to lay electric cables at the basement of the No. 3 reactor turbine building 13 days after the disaster, wants a compensation of 11 million yen ($110,000) from TEPCO.
“I wish (the utility) had informed us of possible risks in advance,” Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun quoted the man as saying at a news conference in Tokyo. “I want (TEPCO) to create safer conditions for workers because the decommissioning of the reactors will not finish anytime soon.”
The complainant asked to be identified only by his first name, Shinichi, wary of the social stigma that he could create because of potentially upsetting the social order in Japan.
The lawsuit, filed at the Iwaki branch of the Fukushima District Court, was the very first made by a Fukushima worker.
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