information about Fukushima published in English in Japanese media info publiée en anglais dans la presse japonaise
22 Avril 2015
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150422p2a00m0na020000c.html
Hearing that the Kagoshima District Court dismissed local residents' demands for an injunction to stop reactivation of two reactors at the Sendai nuclear plant, people gather near the courthouse with posters protesting the restart, in the Kagoshima Prefecture capital April 22, 2015. (Mainichi)
KAGOSHIMA -- Local residents who had sought an injunction to stop the restart of reactors at Sendai Nuclear Power Plant and their supporters were obviously disappointed in the district court's dismissal of their demand, but they called the ruling unjustifiable and vowed not to give up.
The latest decision came as a disappointment particularly because it was handed down in the wake of a ruling by the Fukui District Court on April 14 to ban the restart of two reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co.'s Takahama Nuclear Power Plant.
Soon after the decision on the Sendai plant was announced at 10 a.m. on April 22, the plaintiffs' legal team stood in front of the courthouse holding banners that read "demand dismissed," and angry voices could be heard from supporters who had gathered.
The supporters subsequently moved to an open square across from the courthouse, where head attorney Masami Mori explained the content of the decision, a grim expression on his face. The overwhelming sense of disappointment was undeniable among the approximately 150 people who listened as they held posters with slogans protesting the restart.
"The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), the Satsumasendai Municipal Government, the Kagoshima Prefectural Government, and now the judiciary have approved the reactivation of the nuclear reactors," said Akiko Morinaga, a 43-year-old resident of Satsumasendai, where Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s Sendai plant is located, and a plaintiff in the case. "It's disheartening that no one is protecting the residents' lives."
The head plaintiff in the case, Morinaga is a 3rd-generation atomic bomb victim from Hiroshima; her maternal grandfather was exposed to the bomb when it was dropped on the city in 1945.
In high school, she and her classmates were assigned homework in which they were to ask a war survivor about their experiences. This prompted Morinaga to ask her grandfather about the atomic bomb, but he adamantly refused to speak. Morinaga said that all she knew was what family members told her: that he held an A-bomb survivor's medical certificate.
Morinaga's grandfather died from cancer 20 years ago, taking his painful memories to the grave, and Morinaga's mother has also undergone surgery for cervical cancer. And although it's unclear whether there's a causal relationship between the bomb and her family's cancer history, Morinaga has always been aware of the bomb's horrors.
In 2000 she moved with her husband to Satsumasendai, where her husband's parents lived, and the two of them began working at a glass studio. But it wasn't until 2009, when a plan to additionally construct the plant's No. 3 reactor was made public, that Morinaga threw herself into anti-nuclear activism. Living about 10 kilometers from the Sendai nuclear plant, she had always been vaguely concerned about the proximity to the nuclear power station, but now she could no longer stand back.
As a 3rd-generation A-bomb victim and also as a mother of two daughters, Morinaga wanted to protect them and their hometowns. Learning that a civic group was working toward submitting signatures of people opposed to the reactor expansion to the Kagoshima Prefectural Government on Aug. 6 of that year -- the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima -- Morinaga joined the efforts.
Less than two years later, the Fukushima nuclear disaster struck. In 2012, she joined the lawsuit seeking an injunction on the restart of the Sendai Nuclear Power Plant and became the lead plaintiff.
Many local residents find it difficult to openly oppose the reactivation of the plant, since they have family members or know others who work there. But Morinaga says she's had a neighborhood association board member confess to her that they were "in truth, opposed to the nuclear power plant."
"Letting this (decision) bring us down would be tragic," Morinaga said, as if in encouragement of herself. "We're going to press ahead with the principal lawsuit."
April 22, 2015(Mainichi Japan)