Shika plant not quake-resistant

June 26, 2012

Local residents file suit against Hokuriku Electric, demand Shika nuke plant be halted

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20120626p2a00m0na009000c.html

KANAZAWA -- One hundred and twenty local residents filed a lawsuit with the Kanazawa District Court against Hokuriku Electric Power Co. on June 26, demanding the utility stop operating the Shika Nuclear Power Plant, which they say is not fully resistant to major earthquakes.

In the suit, the local residents from Ishikawa and Toyama prefectures said, "The present quake-resistance guidelines for the nuclear power plant have serious flaws." They argued that the nuclear power station was not built on the assumption that multiple active faults near the nuclear plant could work together and the utility does not take into account an assessment made by experts that the "Togikawa-nangan fault" immediately next to the nuclear plant is an active fault.

Moreover, in light of the recorded history of earthquakes, they say that the nuclear power station must be built in such a way as to withstand magnitude-7.3 earthquakes, but the utility assumes earthquakes of only up to magnitude 6.8. The plaintiffs also say, "Risks are emerging of a severe accident occurring (like what happened at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant).

Hokuriku Electric declined to comment, saying it had not received the suit.

With respect to lawsuits over operations of the Shika Nuclear Power Plant, the Kanazawa District Court ruled in March 2006 in favor of a suit demanding operations at the No. 2 reactor be halted. It was the only commercial nuclear reactor in Japan a court accepted a lawsuit against. In March 2009, however, the Kanazawa branch of the Nagoya High Court overturned the lower court ruling. And in October 2010, the Supreme Court dismissed the plaintiffs' appeal, ending the court battle over the nuclear reactor at the Shika Nuclear Power Plant.