Tokyo utility heads plead innocent

TOKYO -- Three former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Co. apologized in court Friday for the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, but pleaded innocent to charges of professional negligence.

Tsunehisa Katsumata, the 77-year-old ex-chairman of the utility, and two former vice presidents said they don't think they bear criminal responsibility because they couldn't predict the enormous tsunami that flooded the plant.

That issue is expected to be central to their trial, the first to consider whether officials of the utility can be held criminally responsible. The electric company itself has not been charged. The trial at Tokyo District Court is likely to take more than a year.

A prosecutor told the court that the three defendants had access to data and studies that anticipated the risk of a tsunami exceeding 30 feet that could trigger a loss of power and severe accidents.