USS Reagan sailors sue TEPCO over radiation exposure

A group of sailor who were onboard the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan as it delivered aid in the results of the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster in Japan nearly three years ago are taking another shot at a lawsuit over the health issues they say they have suffered since their radiation exposure.

Their lawyer, California environmental law expert Paul C. Garner, has until January 6 to change their complaint against the Tokyo Electric Power Co. and resubmit it for a judge’s ruling.

“What we say is this: The TEPCO people realized what was happening there,” Garner told Navy Times. “They knew the degree of what was happening, because now you have radiological releases into the environment ... and the tsunami just cleaned it all in, and washed it all-out, and the Reagan was in the backwash.”

Garner originally presented the case a year ago. A federal judge in Southern California granted the company’s November 26 motion to disregard the case, but Garner and the sailors will have another opportunity, he told Navy Times.

Garner made the decision to drop some of the accusations in the lawsuit, with a conspiracy charge, and said the judge would reevaluate the case in the New Year.

The case started with former Aviation Boatswain’s Mate 3rd Class Lindsay Cooper, 24, who was onboard, the Reagan in March 2011. She provided humanitarian aid to Japan as part of Operation Tomodachi, following the earthquake and following tsunami.

When she got back, Garner said, she experienced extreme weight-loss and gains over short period of time, gynecological issues and a noticeable loss of energy. Her family got her in contact with the lawyer, who now has 71 plaintiffs listed, with myriad health issues.

“Leukemia's, bleeding, thyroid issues, polyps, testicle removal, optic nerve removal,” Garner said. “And the list goes on and on, unfortunately.”

Garner estimated about one-third of the litigants stay on active duty, including that one is still assigned to the Reagan. He did not have a full breakdown of their duty status.

The lawsuit alleges that TEPCO authorities realized how serious the radiation leak was and knew that American troops were going to Japan to offer comfort, but did nothing to warn them of what they were sailing into.

A spokesperson for the Navy, which is not a defendant in the case, said Reagan crewmembers were not exposed to enough radiation to cause long-term health effects.

“For perspective, the worst-case radiation exposure for a crew member on USS Ronald Reagan is less than 25 percent of the yearly radiation exposure to a member of the U.S. public from natural sources of background radiation, such as the sun, rocks and soil,” spokesperson Lt. Greg Raelson said.

Raelson added that aircrews delivering supplies to Fukushima were given medicinal drugs to prevent hypothyroid gland exposure to radiation. The ships were supervised for levels of radioactivity and equipment was cleaned down to remove radioactive materials.

Garner preserves the relationship between the objective these sailors took part in and th“eir current illnesses cannot be declined.

It’s hard to suppose all of these peoples are struggling now when they were all in their early 20s, in good health, and looking forward to life,” he said.

Though he might not be able to confirm that it is all because of Fukushima, Garner said he believes the burden should be on the other side.

“It just seems to me that based on Chernobyl and everything that happened there ... that it should be a situation where the negative people out there have to show that it did no damage to these individuals,” he said.

If the case is made the decision in the plaintiffs’ favor, Garner said, he plans to set up a fund for the victims to pay for their continuous health care.