Japan Press Weekly

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2016 July 13 - 19 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Court disallows restart of two reactors at Takahama NPP

The Otsu District Court on July 12 dismissed the Kansai Electric Power Company (KEPCO) claim for the cancellation of a provisional injunction suspending operations of two reactors at the Takahama Nuclear Power Plant in Fukui Prefecture. With this dismissal, the two nuclear reactors will be kept offline.

In March, the district court approved a petition to take offline the Nos. 3 and 4 reactors at the power station filed by residents of Shiga Prefecture which neighbors Fukui. Following that, the plant operator KEPCO filed an objection to the approval.

Referring to the fact that the cause of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown has not yet been determined, the latest court decision noted that even though the plant operator insists that the two reactors meet the new safety standards set after the Fukushima disaster, the standards are insufficient to ensure residents’ safety.

At a rally held in front of the court building, the petitioners’ group representative, Tsuji Yoshinori, said, “KEPCO should respond to the demand of local people calling for the protection of their lives and Lake Biwa from radioactive contamination. Gaining momentum from today’s judgment, we’ll continue to work to further strengthen the movement opposing the restart of the Takahama NPP.”

A 70-year-old woman living in Shiga’s Hikone City said, “Even before the Fukushima accident occurred, I was opposed to nuclear power generation because atomic power plants continue generating radioactive wastes. The utility should decommission the Takahama plant.”

Past related article:
> District court issues order stopping operations of Takahama NPP [March 10, 2016]