Court rejects request by residents to cancel Sendai reactor approval

June 17, 2019

Fukuoka--Fukuoka District Court rejected Monday a request from residents in 10 prefectures to cancel regulatory approval of the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s <9508> Sendai nuclear power plant in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan.

The residents demanded that the Nuclear Regulation Authority cancel the safety approval it granted for the two reactors under the country's new nuclear safety standards, citing problems with how the aftereffects of volcanic eruptions have been assessed.

Although the NRA judged that the standards were met through screenings based on its guidelines for assessing the safety of reactors in the event of volcanic activity, the plaintiffs claimed that the guidelines are irrational as they are based on the assumption that volcanic eruptions can be predicted with precision.

"At present, there is no established method of precisely assessing the probability and scale of volcanic activity," said Fukuoka District Court Presiding Judge Moriharu Kurasawa.

The judge said "doubts remain" about the rationality of the NRA guidelines.

At the same time, the judge said catastrophic eruptions that can affect the entire country occur only once in thousands or tens of thousands of years.

Unless the possibility of such an occurrence can be presented scientifically, the court cannot say that the guidelines are irrational, the judge concluded.

The residents are considering appealing the ruling.

In the lawsuit, the state claimed that the guidelines are rational as they are based on the latest scientific knowledge.

In a complaint filed in 2014, another group of citizens sought a court injunction ordering Kyushu Electric to halt operations at the two Sendai reactors, claiming that their safety had not been guaranteed.

The petition was rejected by Kagoshima District Court and the Miyazaki branch of Fukuoka High Court. In its ruling, however, the Miyazaki branch pointed out that the guidelines were irrational.

Regarding Monday's ruling by Fukuoka District Court, the secretariat for the NRA said it understands that the court accepted the claim made by the state. It pledged to continue to conduct appropriate regulatory activity based on the new safety standards, which were introduced after the March 2011 triple meltdown at

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s <9501> Fukushima No. 1 plant.

Kyushu electric said the court's latest decision was a reasonable one that reflected the claims made by the company and the state. Jiji Press