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Company that ran site of Japan's worst nuke accident says it TOKYO (AP) - The company that ran the facility where Japan's worst nuclear accident happened said it is paying $52.3 million in damages to businesses hurt by the disaster, a newspaper reported Wednesday.
Under an agreement with the local government, JCO Co. will settle 2,679 of the more than 5,000 claims from the accident, the mass-circulation Yomiuri Shimbun reported, citing unidentified company officials.
The company was closed for the New Year holiday, and officials were unavailable for comment.
As JCO's liability insurance only covers $9.8 million in damages, most of the burden will be borne by JCO parent company Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., the newspaper said.
The Sept. 30 disaster in Tokaimura, 70 miles northeast of Tokyo, occurred when workers mixed too much uranium with nitric acid to make fuel, setting off an uncontrolled nuclear reaction.
An investigation into the Tokaimura accident found that workers at the plant routinely violated safety procedures, including mixing uranium in buckets to get the job done quickly.
Hisashi Ouchi, 35, the most severely injured of the workers who mixed the uranium, died on Dec. 21.
JCO attracted criticism when it initially said it would only redress claims from businesses within six miles from the Tokaimura plant, Kyodo News Agency said.
The company later agreed with the Ibaraki prefectural government to pay half of the total damages by the end of the year, it said.
Copyright 1999 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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