Two of Japan's 48 offline nuclear power plants were granted court permission for restarts, as the Kagoshima district court in southwest Japan refused to grant an injunction on behalf of local citizens who claimed the reactors were unsafe.
The decision handed down Wednesday is an abrupt reversal of fortunes for the nuclear power industry in Japan. Last week, a local court in the Fukui Prefecture, also in west Japan, ruled that the Kansai Electric Power Company could not restart Takahama nuclear plant units 3 and 4 based on the risks to public safety.
The country's nuclear reactors were all shut down in response to the March 2011 disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility, which was devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake and the follow up tsunami that knocked out the plant's back up power needed to operate cooling systems.
On Wednesday, the court said its ruling was a judgment on the government's screening process, which was deemed to be reasonable. In contrast, the judgment a week earlier concluded that the safety standards for the Takahama units were “too lenient.”
Wednesday's decision was in step with a 1992 Supreme Court ruling that found the government was the party responsible for deciding on the safety or non-safety of nuclear power plants, said The Japan News, which welcomed the restart decision.
There is now just one more regulatory step required for the Kyushu Electric Power Company's Sendai Unit 1 and 2 restart, which could come as early as June.
In contrast, the negative ruling issued a week ago took the safety issue out of the NRA's hands and made it a purview of the courts. After that ruling, the Chairman of the NRA Shunichi Tanaka defended the agency's safety criteria. “The new standards are the strictest in the world. There are many factual errors in this decision,” the chairman said, critical of the court ruling that will keep the Takahama plant shuttered.
Kansai Electric has filed for an appeal on that decision.