Nuclear

Japanese High Court Lifts Injunction, Allowing Takahama Nuclear Reactors to Restart

A Japanese high court has lifted an injunction barring operation of the Takahama nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture, marking a victory for Kansai Electric Power Co.

The Osaka High Court on March 28 lifted the injunction in response to Kansai’s appeal of a March 2016 decision by the Otsu District Court. The lower court’s temporary injunction was the country’s first judicial decision halting the operation of a nuclear power plant that had been restarted in the aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima disaster. Local anti-nuclear groups petitioned for the injunction, claiming that the standard for seismic ground motion was not sufficient to secure safety and that no effective evacuation plan had been issued.

Takahama 3 resumed operation in January 2015 after clearing safety checks by the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA). Unit 4 was restarted a month later, but operation was suspended again within days, owing to a “main transformer/generator internal failure.”

The units were taken offline in response to the injunction. Kansai moved to remove nuclear fuel from both reactors in August and September 2016, anticipating a long legal fight.

On March 28, however, the Osaka High Court lifted the injunction. In its appeal filed in July 2016, Kansai argued that its standard ground motion was based on precise geological investigations, and that its evacuation plans are effective and reasonable. The company said in a statement that the Otsu District Court decision was “lacking rationality.”

The plant operator also said it is currently conducting safety checks as instructed by Fukui Prefecture authorities in connection with a January 2017 accident, in which high winds prompted the collapse of a 112-meter-tall crane. The crane damaged a building that contained spent fuel.

“As with this background we are proceeding with preparation toward resumption of operation of Units 3 and 4 of Takahama Nuclear Power Station placing the highest priority on safety while obtaining understanding of Fukui Prefecture as well as people in the region where the power station is located, the situation is that we cannot estimate influence of today’s decision on our financial results,” Kansai said.

Earlier this month, Hirohide Hirai, the director general of Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, said he was hopeful restarts of the Takahama units would help the country reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and natural gas imports.

Six years after the Fukushima disaster, only three of 45 operable reactors have come online: Kyushu Electric’s Sendai 1 and 2 (restarted in 2015), and Shikoku Electric Power Co.’s Ikata 3 (restarted in August 2016).

The NRA cleared another two reactors in Genkai, Saga Prefecture, to restart in January, and on March 7, the town’s mayor notified Kyushu Electric Power Co. of his decision to allow the reactors to restart. In February, meanwhile, Ohi 3 and Ohi 4, reactors in Fukui Prefecture owned and operated by Kansai Electric Power Co. also got the NRA’s clearance to restart.

 

Sonal Patel, associate editor (@POWERmagazine, @sonalcpatel)

 

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