Tsunehisa Katsumata, the former chairman of Tokyo Electric Power Company, who had been embroiled in legal proceedings after the catastrophic meltdown at the company’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011, has died. He was 84.
The company, known as Tepco and based in Tokyo, said on Thursday that he died on Oct. 21. It did not say where he died or give the cause.
Mr. Katsumata was Tepco’s chairman when the Fukushima plant, in northeastern Japan, was struck by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and a subsequent tsunami in March 2011, resulting in the partial meltdown of three reactors.
It was one of the worst nuclear plant failures in history. As many as 160,000 people had to evacuate their homes to escape the nuclear fallout, and many have still not returned.
More than 13 years later, the shadow of the disaster continues to loom over Japan, complicating efforts to revive the country’s nuclear energy industry. The Fukushima plant has still not been fully decommissioned.
Mr. Katsumata had twice been acquitted on criminal charges that he failed to foresee and prevent the disaster. But at his death, he, along with other former executives of the company, continued to face criminal and civil litigation.
The litigation has centered on Tepco management’s failure to foresee the possibility that a major earthquake and tsunami could hit Japan’s eastern coast and to properly plan for a nuclear accident despite previous warnings.
Mr. Katsumata and two other former Tepco executives were indicted on charges of negligence, with prosecutors arguing that their actions had resulted in more than 40 deaths during the chaos of the evacuations.
The defendants pleaded not guilty, maintaining that it would have been impossible to predict the earthquake and tsunami. They were acquitted in two trials, though the case was appealed to Japan’s Supreme Court and remains pending.
Tepco shareholders also filed a lawsuit against Mr. Katsumata and three other former executives, seeking compensation. In 2022, the Tokyo District Court ordered them to pay damages exceeding $85 billion. That case is under review by the Tokyo High Court.
Mr. Katsumata took over the management of Tepco’s emergency response in 2011 after the company’s president resigned, citing health issues. Mr. Katsumata stepped down as chairman in 2012 once the immediate emergency response had concluded. He had served as president of Tepco from 2002 to 2008 before becoming chairman. He joined Tepco after he graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1963.
Information on survivors and his earlier life was unavailable.
Mr. Katsumata held prominent positions in Japan’s business community, including as a member of the country’s largest business lobby and Japan’s Federation of Electric Power Companies.
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