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’s 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’s tsunami-sparked nuclear disaster at Fukushima in 2011.
But “the safety of the reactors hasn’t been secured,” the court ruled, saying the watchdog’s new standards were “lacking rationality,” 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 “extremely regrettable and utterly unacceptable” and said it would appeal.
A lawyer representing the plaintiffs called the ruling a “perfect victory.”
“This is the best decision that we could have expected,” he said outside the courthouse.
Two other reactors at Takahama also remain offline.
Greenpeace hailed the court decision, saying it “could have a nationwide ripple effect on similar pending injunction cases — threatening to derail the Japanese government’s nuclear reactor plans.”
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. “This can be seen as a warning from the court, which told the (plant) operator that it has to better explain its resumption plans,” Miyano said.
“But it does not mean the possibility of their resumption has disappeared,” he added.
The government’s top spokesman Yoshihide Suga said Tokyo “respects” the watchdog’s earlier approval to turn on the reactors, but did not comment directly on the court ruling.
“There is no change in our policy to go ahead with resuming (nuclear) operations.”
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
