Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2014 November 26 - December 2 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Court rejects application for injunction against restarting of nuclear reactors

The Otsu District Court on November 27 rejected an application for a temporary injunction prohibiting the restart of four reactors at two nuclear power plants in Fukui Prefecture.

In response to a request from the Kansai Electric Power Company (KEPCO) to resume the operations of two reactors at the Oi NPP and two others at the Takahama NPP, the Nuclear Regulation Authority is assessing the safety of the four reactors based on the new standards. In protest against this move, 178 local residents have requested the district court to order KEPCO to keep the reactors offline.

The court explained that the NRA does not intend to hastily confirm that the four reactors meet the new safety standard because municipalities around the NPPs have not finished their preparations for the reactivation, such as working out evacuation plans in case of nuclear accidents.

The plaintiffs and their lawyers’ group issued a statement criticizing the court for denying the need to put a halt to the utility’s move even though the NRA is going ahead with the procedure for the restart. Meanwhile, the statement pointed out that the court stated that the four reactors in question are not ready to be restarted. It also argued that the court expressed its distrust and criticism of the government and KEPCO for rushing to resume the operations of the NPPs.

At a press conference held on the same day, the head of the lawyers’ group stressed that the NRA should take the court’s criticism seriously.

Past related articles:
> Residents file request for temporary injunction against restart of Sendai NPP [May 31 & June 2, 2014]
> Court orders KEPCO not to reactivate Oi NPP [May 22, 2014]