Anti-nukes dismayed

April 23, 2015

Anti-nuke activists disheartened over court ruling on reactor restarts in Kagoshima

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201504230054

Anti-nuclear activists were dismayed but local politicians rejoiced after a court refused to halt the restarts of two reactors at the Sendai nuclear power plant.

“I doubt (the judges) sincerely examined the damage inflicted by the Fukushima nuclear disaster,” said a lawyer representing the plaintiffs at a news conference after the April 22 ruling by the Kagoshima District Court.

Lawyers held up a banner reading, “We will never succumb,” in front of the district court to protest its rejection of their demand for an injunction against the restarts of the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at the nuclear plant in Satsuma-Sendai, Kagoshima Prefecture.

Hiroyuki Kawai, a representative of a nationwide anti-nuclear lawyers’ group, told 150 supporters that the ruling was “full of mistakes of fact.”

The rejection follows an injunction issued earlier this month by the Fukui District Court in a separate case that put on hold plans to restart the Takahama nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture.

“The ruling is vexing because we wanted to follow the Takahama plant case,” said one of the plaintiffs, Tomomi Tsukada, a 44-year-old company employee from Aira, Kagoshima Prefecture.

But the latest ruling drew high praise from local politicians who want the Sendai plant to resume operations as soon as possible.

“The suit concerns national policy, and I believe the court very carefully examined the case,” Satsuma-Sendai Mayor Hideo Iwakiri told reporters.

City assemblyman Kotaro Narikawa also praised the decision.

“Experts at the Nuclear Regulation Authority cannot have introduced sloppy safety standards,” he said. “The decision of the Kagoshima District Court is reasonable.”