Hundreds of people have banded together to launch legal action against the three companies that made the crippled reactors at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.  Japan’s nuclear damage compensation policy has so far held only the Tokyo Electric Power Company responsible for the unprecedented triple meltdown in 2011.

The 1,415 plaintiffs include 38 Fukushima residents and 357 people from outside Japan.  But they are not in it for the money.  The suit seeks compensation of 100 Yen, or A$1.10, for each plaintiff, saying their main goal is to raise global awareness of the problem.

They claim that he manufacturers – Toshiba, GE, and Hitachi – should be financially liable because they failed to make needed safety improvements to the four decade-old reactors. The four reactors all began operation in the 1970s. Units 1, 3 and 4 were built by GE, Toshiba and Hitachi, respectively.  Unit 2 was a joint GE-Toshiba project.

A GE spokesman said the reactor design “has proven to be safe for more than 40 years around the globe.”

Meanwhile, a 20-year veteran broadcaster has resigned from Japan’s national network NHK over orders to cease broadcasting information about Fukushima and nuclear power.