Japan Press Weekly

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2015 April 15 - 21 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Local residents welcome court decision banning restart of Takahama NPP

Many local residents opposing nuclear power generation enthusiastically welcomed the Fukui District Court order not to restart two reactors of the Takahama Nuclear Power Plant in Fukui Prefecture.

When the presiding judge stated in the ruling on April 14 that the No.3 and No.4 reactors at the power station should not be put back online, a shout of joy arose from the gallery.

In a gathering after the court decision, the counsel for the plaintiffs said that this ruling is “historic”. The lawyers called on the central government and plant operators to face up to the terrible damage caused by the Fukushima nuclear disaster and abandon their plan to reactivate nuclear reactors across the country.

A Buddhist priest living in Fukui’s Obama City, Nakajima Tetsuen, said, “If atomic reactors are restarted one after another, the tragedy of Fukushima will inevitably be repeated. We have to prevent that at any cost. It’s time to end the era of nuclear power generation.”

Misao Redwolf, leader of the Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes (MCAN), stressed that anti-nuclear power movements around the nation helped to achieve this epoch-making court ruling. She demanded that the Abe administration make a fundamental reevaluation of its energy policy.

Japanese Communist Party member of the Takahama Town Assembly Watanabe Takashi has pushed for a departure from nuclear power for 36 years. “Pro-nuclear power forces will try to rally and take the offensive again. I will continue fighting until the state and the utility give up resuming operations of the reactors.”


Past related article:
> Court orders KEPCO not to reactivate Oi NPP [May 22, 2014]
> Local gov’ts should follow court order to keep Oi NPP offline: plaintiffs [May 23, 2014]