TEPCO Chief, Others Escape Indictment over Radioactive Water Leaks

   Fukushima, March 29 (Jiji Press)--Public prosecutors decided on Tuesday not to indict Tokyo Electric Power Co. <9501> President Naomi Hirose and other current and former executives of the utility over radioactive water leaks from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into the ocean.
   Sufficient evidence was not found, the Fukushima District Public Prosecutors Office said.
   In September 2013, a civic group filed a criminal complaint against a total of 32 current and former TEPCO executives, including Hirose and Tsunehisa Katsumata, former chairman of the operator of the northeastern nuclear power plant, saying tainted water leaked from storage tanks into the ocean due to their failure to take preventive measures.
   Through its investigation, Fukushima prefectural police concluded that some 300 tons of stored radioactive water had flown into the sea by July 2013 because TEPCO executives neglected monitoring the tanks and taking leak prevention measures, and sent the case to the prosecutors in October last year.
   The prosecutors office said there was no evidence supporting the allegation that the leaked tainted water was carried into the sea by groundwater at the plant, which suffered meltdowns following the massive earthquake and ensuing tsunami in March 2011.

(2016/03/29-22:50)