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3 categories of compensation payments for Japan’s nuclear evacuees

Japanese government panel urges compensation for nuclear evacuees (includes video) http://news.bostonherald.com/news/international/asia_pacific/view/20120318japanese_government_panel_urges_compensation_for_nuclear_evacuees/srvc=home&position=recent By The Yomiuri Shimbun , March 18, 2012   TOKYO – Residents who will be unable to return to areas around the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant for at least five years should be paid 6 million yen (US$71,813) each as compensation for their mental suffering, a Japanese government panel has decided.

The Dispute Reconciliation Committee for Nuclear
Damage Compensation on Friday decided on new guidelines in line with
the government’s planned reclassification of the no-entry and expanded
evacuation zones established after the outbreak of the nuclear crisis
at the plant last year.
The facility’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., will pay
compensation to affected residents based on the new guidelines, which
the committee established to supplement interim guidelines announced
in August.

Under the reclassification, which is expected to be implemented by the
end of this month, three new categories will be established based on
annual radiation doses:

-Areas where the accumulated radiation dose exceeds 50 millisieverts
per year will be designated as “zones where residency is prohibited
for an extended period.”

-Areas with annual doses of above 20 and up to 50 millisieverts will
be designated as “zones with restricted residency.”

-Areas where the radiation dose is 20 millisieverts or less per year
will be designated as “zones being prepared for residents’ return.”

The committee has decided that residents whose houses are within areas
that fall under the first category should be paid a lump sum of 6
million yen, equivalent to five years of the current monthly payments
of 100,000 yen per person (US$71,813).

They also should be paid the full actual value of their real estate
before the outbreak of the nuclear crisis, according to the new
guidelines.
Evacuees from the “zones with restricted residency” can choose to be
paid 100,000 yen every month or to receive a lump sum of 2.4 million
yen (US$28,725) – two years of compensation – as they are unlikely to
be able to return to their homes for the time being.

Residents from “zones preparing to lift restrictions on residents’
return” – in which people will be allowed to return to their homes
once living conditions are restored through decontamination and other
work – will be paid 100,000 yen every month, according to the new
guidelines.

The committee also decided compensation payments will conclude at the
end of August for evacuees from what used to be the emergency
evacuation preparation zone – located between 20 and 30 kilometers
(12.5 and 18.6 miles) from the crippled power plant – nearly one year
after it was dissolved at the end of September.

However, residents from Naraha will be exempt from the measure because
only part of the town was designated as being within the zone.
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/international/asia_pacific/view/20120318japanese_government_panel_urges_compensation_for_nuclear_evacuees/srvc=home&position=recent

March 19, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, politics