Koizumi calls court ruling "common sense"

May 24, 2014

Koizumi: Court ruling blocking Oi reactor restarts is 'common sense'

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/politics/AJ201405240041 

The ASAHI SHIMBUN

Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi lauded a recent court ruling ordering an electric power company not to restart its reactors, saying the decision is in line with the “common sense” of the people.

The still-popular retired politician made the remark after he attended a meeting May 23 of the Japan Assembly for Nuclear Free Renewable Energy, an organization he set up with Morihiro Hosokawa, another former prime minister.

Koizumi reportedly said at the meeting that Hosokawa’s failed bid in February’s Tokyo gubernatorial election, in which they campaigned for the abolishment of nuclear power, possibly influenced the court’s decision.

Kansai Electric Power Co. was seeking to restart two reactors at its Oi nuclear power plant. But the Fukui District Court on May 21 sided with residents living near the plant and ordered the utility to keep the reactors offline.

The landmark ruling calls into question the legitimacy of current safety screenings of nuclear plants across Japan. It judged that no safety measures could ever be sufficient because it is impossible for modern science to predict the scale of possible earthquakes.

Hosokawa’s campaign “created an environment in which one cannot criticize a court by labeling it as leftist, even when it hands down an order to suspend (the operation of a nuclear plant),” Koizumi reportedly said at the meeting.