TOKYO, Feb 22 (NNN-NHK) – A Japanese court, yesterday, rejected a request by thousands of residents, to suspend operations of two reactors at a nuclear power plant in Kagoshima prefecture in south-western Japan, local media reported.
The Sendai nuclear power plant, operated by Kyushu Electric Power Co., is located near a number of active volcanoes, and an active fault, but the Kagoshima District Court said, there was no specific risk of a severe accident caused by a natural disaster, Kyodo News reported.
In the lawsuit, plaintiffs, totalling around 3,000, claimed a catastrophic volcanic eruption or an earthquake could hit No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at the power complex, currently online.
The plaintiffs were set to appeal the ruling to a higher court, according to their lawyers.
The court’s decision came, as the central government on Monday unveiled a new energy plan that said, nuclear power will account for about 20 percent of Japan’s total energy output in fiscal 2040, which requires the country to reboot nearly all of more than 30 reactors nationwide, despite safety concerns raised by the Fukushima nuclear crisis, triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011.
In 2014, No. 1 and No. 2 units at the Sendai complex, both around 40 years old, became the first in Japan, to pass stricter safety regulations, drawn up after the Fukushima nuclear disaster and restarted the following year.
A series of lawsuits have been filed against the Sendai reactors. In 2019, the Fukuoka District Court dismissed a request by residents to nullify the regulator’s permission, for installing the reactors, while the Kagoshima District Court rejected an injunction request, to halt the units in 2015, according to Kyodo News.– NNN-NHK
