Japanese Court's Surprising Injunction To Halt Takahama Nuclear Reactors

Wednesday, two barely functioning nuclear reactors have been placed in a shutdown state for safety purposes following a Japanese Court's order, which judgement was based on the mistakes that were learned from Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Though they did obtain necessary technical and political approvals, Takahama nuclear power station's Units 3 and 4 are concerned by this court order.

The judgment — the first of its kind affecting reactors that were fired up under beefed-up safety regulations following the March 2011 triple-meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant — is a blow to the government’s renewed push for atomic power. The ruling could also cast doubt on the stringency of the new safety regulations.

The Takahama reactors, on the coast of Fukui Prefecture in western Japan, had cleared the new regulations last year.

The Takahama plant is one of two nuclear power stations that are currently online.

Residents of neighboring Shiga Prefecture, a portion of which is within a 30-km radius of the Takahama plant, had asked for the injunction citing insufficient safety measures and concerns that many residents could be exposed to radiation in the event of a severe accident.

The Takahama complex was the nation’s second nuclear power plant to be brought back online after clearing the new regulations, with its Nos. 3 and 4 reactors resuming operations on Jan. 29 and Feb. 26, respectively.

But the No. 4 reactor was hit by trouble shortly before and after its reactivation. Ahead of its reboot, radioactive coolant water leak was discovered. Then — just three days after it was rebooted — the unit shut down automatically for a reason yet to be conclusively specified.

In a separate case concerning the two reactors, the Fukui District Court issued an injunction last April banning Kansai Electric from restarting the units, citing safety concerns.

But the same court later lifted the injunction in December, allowing the utility to resume operations at both reactors. Plaintiffs appealed the court decision to the Kanazawa branch of the Nagoya High Court, where the case is pending.

Under the revamped safety regulations, which took effect in 2013, utilities are for the first time obliged to put in place specific countermeasures in the event of severe accidents like reactor core meltdowns and huge tsunami — the direct cause of the Fukushima crisis that began on March 11, 2011.