» Court ruled not to allow the restart of reactors at Oi nuclear plant

2014/05/21

The Fukui District Court ruled on May 21st that it will not allow the restart of two reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co.’s Oi nuclear plant, now under safety examination by Japan’s top nuclear watchdog.

It is the first time since the Fukushima nuclear crisis that a Japanese court has ordered a power supplier not to bring a nuclear plant online.

In the lawsuit, a group of 189 people from Tokyo, the plant’s host prefecture of Fukui and 20 other prefectures contended that the No. 3 and 4 reactors at the Oi plant resumed commercial operations in August 2012 under provisional safety standards.

The court acknowledged the claim by 166 of them, who live within 250 kilometers of the Oi plant, saying, “An evacuation advisory was considered for those who live within 250 km of the Fukushima Daiichi complex at the time of the accident.”

In the ruling, Presiding Judge Hideaki Higuchi admitted the importance of nuclear plants for society, but pointed out that they are “merely a tool for generating electricity and thus inferior to people’s fundamental rights (to life).”

“It would be only natural to suspend nuclear plants if they pose specific risks of danger,” the judge said.
<Media Report>

Japan court orders power supplier not to run Oi nuke plant (Mainichi Newspaper)

ANALYSIS: Court ban on restart of Oi plant puts nuclear safety screening on trial (Asahi Newspaper)

Tags:anti-nuclear movement, citizens' movement, news, Ohi nuclear power plant, restart of nuclear reactors

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