Ｔｏｍｏｄａｃｈｉ作戦で、原発事故の翌日に福島で救援活動をした米国の海軍水平たち（約５５００名）が、真実の放射能情報の提供を怠り、彼らの健康を脅かしたとして日本政府を訴えたそうだ。
米国のトモダチ作戦は、途中まで来て、放射能が高すぎてトンズラしてしまったという噂が流れたが、ほんの短期間現場にいただけで、東京電力に対してこれだけ高額な賠償金を求めているのだから、そこに暮らして毎日被曝している人たちへの賠償金は、想像を絶するものとなるはずだ。
米海軍水兵が東京電力に要求しているのは、約10億円の損害賠償と約30億円の詐欺行為、過失、厳格責任、警告の失敗、公共および民間の迷惑や不良設計のための懲罰的損害賠償だ。さらには、万一今回の救援活動が原因で将来何らかの病状が発生した場合は、東京電力が約100億円の治療費を支払うことを要求している。
もし、時間が許せば、明日全文を和訳したい。
福島第一原発の作業員が福島の大隈町にある東京電力の福島第一原発4号機の使用済み燃料プールから初めて燃料（写真中央の黒いポール）を取り出すところ。(AFP Photo / Tepco)
米海軍兵が福島の放射能について嘘をついた日本政府を告訴
US Navy sailors sue Japan for lying about Fukushima radiation
American sailors have filed a lawsuit against the Japanese government for allegedly lying about the health risks they faced while assisting in rescue efforts after last year’s Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Crewmembers from the USS Ronald Reagan filed a lawsuit in Federal Court in San Diego, California this week in an attempt to hold Japan accountable for any long-term damage they’ll caused during “Operation Tomadachi,” the spring 2011 relief effort that sent sailors near the coast of Japan to assist in the days after an earthquake and subsequent tsunami ravaged the island nation and caused a level 7 meltdown at three reactors in the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant.
The plaintiffs, eight sailors from the 5,500 or so that were aboard the USS Reagan at the time, say Japan did not act honestly in regards to explaining the severity of the meltdown and the risks they faced in involving themselves in the relief efforts. They are asking the state-owned Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) for $10 million in compensatory damages, as well as another $30 million in punitive damages for fraud, negligence, strict liability, failure to warn, public and private nuisance and defective design, Courthouse News Service reports.
Additionally, the sailors want TEPCO to set up a $100 million fund to pay for any future medical expenses they’re accrue as a result of the relief effort.
Courthouse News claims that plaintiffs say in the complaint that TEPCO, "a wholly owned public benefit subsidiary of the government of Japan," misrepresented radiation levels after the meltdown in order to lull the US Navy "into a false sense of security."
Beginning only one day after the March 11 earthquake, the United States sent eventually 24,000 service members to assist in rescue efforts at a cost cited by the Japan Times as being nearly $90 million.
"Operation Tomodachi has proven the Japan-US alliance can function in an emergency in a well-coordinated manner. US military personnel have proven to the fullest degree they are acting for the benefit of the Japanese people,"National Defense Academy Professor Matake Kamiya told the Times earlier this year.
Today, however, sailors from the USS Reagan say they were misled about how severe the situation was.
"TEPCO pursued a policy to cause rescuers, including the plaintiffs, to rush into an unsafe area which was too close to the FNPP [Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant] that had been damaged. Relying upon the misrepresentations regarding health and safety made by TEPCO … the US Navy was lulled into a false sense of security," the complaint states.
"Defendant TEPCO and the government of Japan, conspired and acted in concert, among other things, to create an illusory impression that the extent of the radiation that had leaked from the site of the FNPP was at levels that would not pose a threat to the plaintiffs, in order to promote its interests and those of the government of Japan, knowing that the information it disseminated was defective, incomplete and untrue, while omitting to disclose the extraordinary risks posed to the plaintiffs who were carrying out their assigned duties aboard the USS Ronald Reagan."
The complaint further alleges that TEPCO claimed the levels of radiation the sailors would be subjected to “would not cause any different or greater harm to them than they may have experienced on missions in the past,” though the Americans say otherwise.
"At all times relevant times, the defendant, TEPCO, was aware that exposure to even a low dose of radiation creates a danger to one's health and that it is important to accurately report actual levels,” the defendants say.
"Defendants had actual and/or constructive knowledge of the properties of radiation that would ensure that, once released into the environment, radiation would spread further and in concentrations that would cause injury to the plaintiffs."
The sailors say they have put themselves in a situation where their potential to develop cancer has been enhanced and that they "face additional and irreparable harm to their life expectancy, which has been shortened and cannot be restored to its prior condition."
In August, over a year after the meltdown, fish were found near the site of the Fukushima plant containing with 258 times the level of contamination that the level government deems safe for consumption.
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