Japan Press Weekly

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2023 May 24 - 30 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Court rejects injunction request against restart of Onagawa NPP

The Sendai District Court on May 24 dismissed a lawsuit in which plaintiffs demanded an injunction against the restart of the No.2 unit at the Onagawa nuclear power plant (Onagawa Town and Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Pref.) based on unanswered questions regarding the feasibility of the local government’s emergency evacuation plan.

The lawsuit was filed in May 2021 by 17 Ishinomaki residents living near the Onagawa NPP against the plant operator, Tohoku Electric Power Company.

The 17 plaintiffs in court argued that the evacuation plan compiled by the city government in the event of a nuclear emergency at the Onagawa NPP is worthless as it contains various flaws, including not giving consideration to the possibility that evacuees may be trapped in cars for long hours due to potential traffic jams on evacuation routes. They claimed that the evacuation plan is ineffective in protecting residents from the risk of radiation exposure and demanded that the court not allow the utility to bring the reactor in question back online.

The court ruling, however, stated that the plaintiffs failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove the danger of an accident occurring at the Onagawa NPP. It concluded that the plaintiffs’ injunction request should be rejected while avoiding judging whether the evacuation plan is realistic or not.

After the court ruling, the plaintiffs’ legal team issued a statement. In the statement, the plaintiffs’ counsel pointed out that among the lessons learned from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdowns is that an evacuation plan should be created on the assumption that a nuclear accident may occur. The lawyers’ group criticized the court ruling for disregarding this valid assumption.