The Japanese government’s push to return to nuclear power won a boost yesterday after a court rejected a bid to block the restart of two reactors deemed safe by regulators.
The Kagoshima District Court turned down the challenge by local residents who wanted to halt the refiring of the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at the Sendai nuclear plant, a court official said.
They could come back online as early as this summer.
Photo: AFP
The ruling comes about a week after another court in Fukui sided with a citizens’ group by temporarily halting the restart of the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at the Takahama nuclear plant.
Those reactors cannot resume operations unless a successful appeal by their operator overturns the injunction.
Top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga declined to comment on the latest court ruling.
However, he said Tokyo stood behind an earlier decision by the Nuclear Regulation Authority to agree to the restart of all four reactors because they met new, tougher standards.
“The government respects the decision made by the Nuclear Regulation Authority to resume plants that it considers meet safety standards, while placing the top priority on safety over any other factor,” he told reporters at a regular media briefing.
The Kagoshima court ruled that Japan’s new nuclear safety standards were not unreasonable, Jiji Press news agency and other media reported, contrary to the Fukui court, which said the standards “lacked rationality.”
It questioned whether safety regulations were strict enough, citing earthquake risks, in a move hailed by antinuclear activists.
Kyushu Electric Power, the operator of the Sendai nuclear plant, said the latest judgement was “appropriate” as it accepted the company’s opinion that the reactors’ safety was assured.
Once-trusted nuclear power has become the object of public suspicion since a tsunami smashed into the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in March 2011, sending reactors into a meltdown that left villages uninhabitable.
The lawyer acting for the plaintiffs in the most recent case said he was disappointed.
“I doubt the court properly looked at the true extent of the Fukushima accident’s damage and horribleness,” Hiroyuki Kawai told a news conference.
“We will urgently consider lodging a complaint” to overturn the court decision, he said.
Japan’s entire stable of nuclear reactors was gradually switched off following the Fukushima disaster, which forced tens of thousands of people from their homes.
Many are still displaced and some settlements might be uninhabitable for decades, scientists say.
However, pro-nuclear Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the nation’s business sector have pushed to restart the plants that once supplied more than one-quarter of Japan’s electricity, as a plunging yen sent energy import bills through the roof.
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