Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2012 February 1 - 7 TOP3 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

1,704 file suit seeking shutdown of Genkai nuclear plant

A group of 1,704 people on January 31 filed a lawsuit with the Saga District Court, seeking the discontinuation of operations of all four reactors at the Genkai Nuclear Power Plant of Kyushu Electric Power Co., Inc. in Gankai Town in Saga Prefecture.

This is the largest ever lawsuit in regards to nuclear power generation. A legal team is also large scale, consisting of 147 attorneys.

Along with a permanent shutdown of the plant, the plaintiffs are also seeking a judgment that the government and power companies to be held responsible for having promoted the “safety myth” of nuclear energy even in the face of the on-going Fukushima nuclear crisis.

Plaintiffs, supporters, and lawyers held a rally after filing the suit. Lawyer Itai Masaru said, “Let us arouse public opinion calling for a society without nuclear energy and win this case in order to move the government to change its policy dependent on nuclear power generation! Today is the first step toward achieving this goal.”

Head of the plaintiffs, Hasegawa Akira, a former president of Saga University said, “More plaintiffs are already preparing to join us. Let us establish a 10,000-strong plaintiffs’ group!”

Another 1,000 people will join the second round of the lawsuit scheduled for filing on March 11. They are aiming to increase the number of plaintiffs to more than 10,000.