FUKUOKA ¨C The Fukuoka High Court on Wednesday upheld a lower court ruling rejecting plaintiffs¡¯ request to void the Nuclear Regulation Authority¡¯s approval of the restart of the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at Kyushu Electric Power¡¯s Sendai nuclear power plant.
The high court, presided over by Judge Norihiro Matsuda, recognized no ¡°intolerable shortfalls or mistakes¡± in the NRA¡¯s screening of the reactors in the city of Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture.
In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs, including local residents, demanded that the NRA¡¯s approval be reversed on the grounds that the regulator ¡°failed to appropriately examine whether the possibility of a devastating volcanic eruption is small enough.¡±
In particular, they questioned the rationality of the NRA¡¯s volcanic assessment guide used for its safety screening of the reactors.
The presiding judge said the guide was not necessarily irrational as it was ¡°created through examinations based on expert knowledge.¡±
The high court also acknowledged ¡°considerable grounds and documents¡± behind the NRA¡¯s conclusion that volcanic eruptions are not imminent at five calderas that had erupted destructively in the past.
At a news conference following the high court decision, Hironori Nakano, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, criticized that the court took the government¡¯s arguments at face value.
¡°It¡¯s an utterly irrational judgment,¡± Yukinobu Aoyagi, 78, who represents the plaintiffs, said angrily. ¡°We can¡¯t accept it.¡±
The NRA said on the day that it will continue to regulate nuclear power plants appropriately by conducting safety screenings strictly.
Kyushu Electric welcomed the high court decision as reasonable.
In 2014, the NRA gave the go ahead for the Sendai reactors¡¯ restart under new safety regulations adopted after the triple meltdown at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.¡¯s crippled Fukushima No. 1 power plant in 2011.
The reactors were reactivated in 2015, and in 2023 the authority gave permission for them to operate for more than 40 years.
Over the Sendai power plant, local residents and others filed another lawsuit against Kyushu Electric Power Company and the central government at Kagoshima District Court. In February, the court rejected the plaintiffs¡¯ request to shut down the plant, and the plaintiffs appealed the ruling.
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