On Monday, October 2, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), which operates the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant, initiated a procedure to compensate local businesses whose reputation and operations have been damaged by the release into the ocean of treated and diluted water from the plant devastated by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, which began on August 24. Compensation will be paid not only to the fishing industry, whose image has been particularly tarnished, but also to the agricultural, tourism, processing and wholesale sectors.
Tepco has announced that it will award compensation to all substantiated cases of reputational damage caused by the discharge of contaminated water into the ocean, regardless of the region or type of activity affected, and that there is no time limit for filing a claim. In particular, potential claimants can declare to the company the financial losses associated with a decline in sales, the various damages caused by lower prices for seafood and agricultural products, and the costs they have incurred in response to embargoes put in place abroad. According to Tepco, this procedure applies only to companies that were in operation before the start of water discharge operations.
The Japanese government will finance the compensation through the issuance of state bonds, lending the necessary funds to Tepco via the Nuclear Damage Compensation Facilitation Corporation. The loan will then be repaid from the company's annual profits. The total amount allocated to these compensation operations has not been disclosed.
In accordance with the rules established by the compensation process, Tepco will calculate the amount of damages for each company after confirming the existence of damage to the claimant's reputation, drawing on statistical data for each sector. Statistics from the Tokyo wholesale market will be consulted for cases in the fishing and agricultural sectors. The Japan Tourism Agency (an agency of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism) will act as a consultant in its field.
Where reputational damage has been ascertained and confirmed, companies will be compensated for the loss of revenue, calculated in particular on the basis of product price and sales value in 2022. If the claimant accepts the amount of compensation, the final documents will be sent on November 20 to finalize settlement of the agreed sum.
Tepco has also opened consultation offices to provide assistance to interested individuals and businesses. "We would like to hear from trade professionals about their problems, then work with them to explore these issues and provide support," said Tadashi Ota, deputy director of Tepco's Sendai office in Miyagi prefecture.
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