The utility took the action following a Dec. 18 Supreme Court ruling against the project's supporters, who had attempted to gain control of land earmarked for the plant from a local citizens' group opposed to the project.

After the top court's ruling, Niigata Gov. Ikuo Hirayama said that construction was no longer possible and called on the utility to clarify the future of the project by the end of the year.

The government gave the green light to the project some 30 years ago and had been planning to have the nuclear plant on line in fiscal 2012. But the project stalled after about 60 percent of local residents voted against it in a plebiscite in 1996 and the town's mayor sold the land intended for the plant to the citizens' group in 1999.

The Japan Times Weekly: Jan. 3, 2004
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