This Asian Lawyer story explains that while the legal aftermath of the meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan is much different than it would have been in our legal system and culture, the wheels are starting to turn on legal action against the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) for $72 billion in damages:
Most of those claims have been expected to be processed via a mediation scheme rather than litigation. The Japanese government has set up a fund to pay damages on the company's behalf, and contributed an initial $26 billion to it, with a further $11.7 billion payment approved in November and more capital injections to come. For its part, Tepco will make annual contributions to the fund along with Japan's other nuclear operators. The plan is to ensure that victims get a swift payout while keeping Tepco on life support and generating power for a country that had to ration electricity usage for six months after the disaster.
