Ruling Allowing Restart of Oi N-Reactors to Become Final

July 17, 2018

Fukui- A high court ruling allowing the restart of the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co.'s Oi nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture will become final, with plaintiffs giving up filing an appeal to the Supreme Court.

At a press conference held in the central Japan city of Fukui on Tuesday, Tetsuen Nakajima, the 76-year-old head of the plaintiffs, said he wanted to appeal the ruling, handed down by the Kanazawa branch of Nagoya High Court earlier in this month, from the bottom of his heart.

But refraining from doing so is "the best strategic option at present" in consideration of a negative impact of the top court's possible go-ahead for the restart on similar lawsuits in the country, Nakajima said.

In May 2014, Fukui District Court ordered the power supplier serving mainly the Kansai western region not to resume the reactors' operations, upholding local residents' petition against the restart.

But Kansai Electric reactivated the No. 3 and No. 4 units in March and May this year, respectively, in the wake of the Nuclear Regulation Authority's judgment in May 2017 that they meet the country's new safety standards introduced after the March 2011 triple meltdown at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

The district court injunction did not take effect as the lawsuit continued. Jiji Press