US sailors sue Japan's TEPCO for post-quake radiation exposure

Opmmur

Time Travel Professor
Messages
5,049
US sailors sue Japan's TEPCO for post-quake radiation exposure

121227-japanNuclear-hmed-633p.photoblog600.jpg

Sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan wash down the flight deck to remove potential radiation contamination while operating off the coast of Japan providing humanitarian assistance in support of Operation Tomodachi on March 22, 2011.

By Kari Huus, NBC News

A group of U.S. Navy personnel involved in the humanitarian effort after Japan's March 2011 earthquake and tsunami have filed a lawsuit against the Tokyo Electric Power Co. for more than $200 million in compensation, punitive damages and future medical costs for exposure to radiation that leaked from the damaged Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant at the time.

The plaintiffs include eight troops serving on the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier — one of whom was pregnant at the time of the alleged exposure — and her daughter.

They charge that the utility, known as TEPCO, "knowingly and negligently caused, permitted and allowed misleading information concerning the true condition of the (plant) to be disseminated to the public, including the U.S. Navy Department," according to the complaint filed on Dec. 21 in a U.S. federal court in San Diego.

The plaintiffs are suffering a variety of symptoms that attorney Paul Garner says were caused by the exposure, including rectal bleeding, thyroid problems and persistent migraine headaches, and all face an increased chance of developing cancer and requiring expensive medical procedures.

The U.S. carrier was positioned just offshore from the damaged Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, which and suffered a meltdown which triggered the release of high levels of radiation into the air and water.

He said the crew was unknowingly exposed to high levels of radiation in numerous ways, including when they cleared the carrier's decks of snow that was contaminated, and washed down the helicopters with sea water that was contaminated.

Archival video: Of all the aftershocks that could hit Japan, nothing frightens the world more than the possibility of a devastating nuclear disaster. NBC's Anne Thompson.

The complaint said that by relying on misrepresentations about the situation by TEPCO, the U.S. Navy was "lulled into a false sense of security," believing it was "safe to operate with the waters adjacent to the FNPP, without doing research and testing that would have revealed the problems."

It goes on to charge that through its conduct, TEPCO "rendered the Plaintiffs infirm and poisoned their bodies. The Plaintiffs must now endure a lifetime of radiation poisoning and suffering which could have and should have been avoided."

Meltdown fears at damaged nuclear reactor - Video on NBCNews.com
 

Samstwitch

Senior Member
Messages
5,111
I feel very sorry for them. Anyone who was keeping up with the news and paying attention knew that Japan wasn't releasing the dangers of what was happening. It took months to contain the radiation, and at some point I lost track. I don't even know IF they contained it. The dangerous radiation from that travesty has affected many people from around the world environmentally. How much, I don't know, but even with contaminated items washing on the shores of other countries it certainly cannot be safe.
 


Top