Japan court blocks restart of nuke reactors
Print Edition
A JAPANESE court yesterday issued a landmark injunction against the restarting of two atomic reactors, after the country鈥檚 nuclear watchdog had given the green light to switch them back on.
The district court in the central prefecture of Fukui made the temporary order in response to a bid by local residents to halt the restart of the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at the Takahama nuclear power plant, a court official said.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority last December approved the restarting of the reactors, saying they met tougher safety standards introduced after Japan鈥檚 tsunami-sparked nuclear disaster at Fukushima in 2011.
But 鈥渢he safety of the reactors hasn鈥檛 been secured,鈥 the court ruled, saying the watchdog鈥檚 new standards were 鈥渓acking rationality,鈥 according to public broadcaster NHK.
The reactors could be damaged by a temblor even smaller than that envisaged in the safety standards, the court said.
Plant operator Kansai Electric Power slammed the injunction as 鈥渆xtremely regrettable and utterly unacceptable鈥 and said it would appeal.
A lawyer representing the plaintiffs called the ruling a 鈥減erfect victory.鈥
鈥淭his is the best decision that we could have expected,鈥 he said outside the courthouse.
Two other reactors at Takahama also remain offline.
Greenpeace hailed the court decision, saying it 鈥渃ould have a nationwide ripple effect on similar pending injunction cases 鈥 threatening to derail the Japanese government鈥檚 nuclear reactor plans.鈥
A separate court ruling on the restart of two other reactors in southern Japan is expected later this month.
Hiroshi Miyano, a nuclear expert and visiting professor at Hosei University in Tokyo, said the court decision would affect the timing of future reactor restarts. 鈥淭his can be seen as a warning from the court, which told the (plant) operator that it has to better explain its resumption plans,鈥 Miyano said.
鈥淏ut it does not mean the possibility of their resumption has disappeared,鈥 he added.
The government鈥檚 top spokesman Yoshihide Suga said Tokyo 鈥渞espects鈥 the watchdog鈥檚 earlier approval to turn on the reactors, but did not comment directly on the court ruling.
鈥淭here is no change in our policy to go ahead with resuming (nuclear) operations.鈥
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