介绍:
d. Clean-Up of Environmental Damage
How the polluted environment will be cleaned up or compensated remains to be seen. Some temporary policies have been adopted by the Government Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters ("GNER-HQs"). 549 [*197] The GNER-HQs published the "Basic Concept for Pushing Ahead with Decontamination" and the "Basic Policy for Emergency Response on Decontamination Works." 550 Those documents set the current goals and working guidelines for decontamination for the next two years. 551 The long-term decontamination work was prescribed under a law enacted on August 26, 2011, the Act on Special Measures concerning the Handling of Environmental Pollution by Radioactive Materials Discharged by NPS Associated with the Tohoku District-Off the Pacific Ocean Earthquake that Occurred on March 11, 2011. 552 The Act creates a framework for decontamination measures for the pollution caused by the Fukushima accident, and it involves the national government, local governments, and nuclear operators. 553 It is worth noting that rather than restoring and compensating for the damage to the environment itself, this Act focuses on reducing the influence of environmental pollution on human health and the living environment. 554 In the other words, this Act does not aim at providing compensation for the complete cleanup of the environment; only the measures related to reducing human impacts are covered. 555 The national government is responsible for setting decontamination policies. 556 Local governments shall cooperate with the national government and shall also take some initiatives themselves. 557 Nuclear operators shall dispose the radioactive wastes and cooperate with the government to decontaminate the polluted environment. 558
The financial duty to decontaminate the polluted environment is formulated in the recent Act as an obligation of various stakeholders. 559 The Act provides that the national government and local public authorities shall take financial measures and other measures to promote the policies related with the handling of the environmental pollution by radioactive [*198] materials discharged by the accident. 560 However, the Act equally makes clear that the liable nuclear operators shall also compensate within their capacity. 561 Experts on nuclear law in Japan also confirm that on the basis of the new Act, financing decontamination is considered a joint responsibility of the operators, the national government, and local public authorities. 562
e. Financing of the Losses via the Nuclear Damage Compensation Facilitation Corporation
Beyond simply defining the scope of compensable damage, the question exists how this compensation can be financed. As was indicated above, nuclear damage caused by a natural disaster is excluded from the insurance policy provided by JAEIP. 563 Thus, the insurance industry does not seem to be seriously impacted by this accident. The government may have to indemnify the losses up to 120 billion yen. 564 The remainder of the damage may still create a challenge to the financial capacity of TEPCO. According to the Act on Compensation, if the operator's liability exceeds the amount of financial security and the government deems it necessary in order to attain the objectives of the Act, the government shall give aid to the operator. 565 However, whether and to what extent aid will be given depends on the government's decision. Because of the significant impact of the Fukushima accident and the catastrophic nature of the damage, it will be difficult for TEPCO alone to provide full compensation.
To ensure a prompt compensation of the damage caused by the Fukushima accident, the government prepared a law to address compensation through the creation of a corporation in June 2011. 566 The Act to Establish the Nuclear Damage Compensation Facilitation Corporation was passed on August 3, 2011. 567 The Act has three aims: ensuring the prompt [*199] and proper nuclear damage compensation for affected people, stabilizing the nuclear power station to prevent adverse effects on life and commerce in the surrounding area, and maintaining a stable supply of electricity. 568 To realize those aims, the Act establishes a Nuclear Damage Compensation Facilitation Corporation ("the Corporation") and a system of financing the compensation for damage. 569 The Corporation will receive contributions from nuclear operators to cover the costs of operation, and reserve funds to prepare for compensation. 570 The victims still need to make a claim against the liable operator, and the liable operator needs to make the payment to the victims. However, the Corporation can facilitate the compensation and "provide . . . necessary information and advice" to the affected people. 571 If the liable operator needs assistance, the Corporation can provide two forms: ordinary financial assistance, which can be given after a resolution of the management committee of the Corporation; and special financial assistance, which needs to be approved by the competent minister. 572 To obtain the special financial assistance, the Corporation and the operator need to formulate a special business plan. 573 Under this plan, the government will issue government bonds to the Corporation and the Corporation will grant the necessary funds to the nuclear operator. 574 The Corporation can also get government-backed support from financial institutions. After getting this support, the liable nuclear operator pays special contributions to the Corporation. 575 Other non-affected nuclear operators also need to pay general contributions based on the principle of "mutual support." 576 From the contributions, the Corporation repays the national treasury and financial institutions. 577 One issue worth noting here is that the Corporation does not only provide assistance for the compensation of third- party damage, but also for the expenses of stabilizing the power plant and sustaining a stable supply of electricity. 578 The compensation under the new system can be summarized as follows:
[*200]
Table 9: Compensation Support by Nuclear Damage Compensation Facilitation Corporation 579
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