Court orders new Shika reactor halted | 日本のニュースを英語で読むならジャパンタイムズウィークリー


	UPDATE: Saturday, June 12, 2010 The Japan Times Weekly 2006年4月1日号（バックナンバー）

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Court orders new Shika reactor halted

The Kanazawa District Court on March 24 ordered Hokuriku Electric Power Co. to shut down the No. 2 reactor at its Shika power plant in Ishikawa Prefecture, recognizing the claim by a citizens' group that it would be vulnerable to a major earthquake.

Plaintiffs show a banner written "case won" in front of the Kanazawa District Court on March 24.

The utility company began full operation of the upgraded 1,358-megawatt boiling-water reactor March 15. It is the nation's 55th commercial reactor and second largest in terms of output.

The 135 plaintiffs, from 17 prefectures, filed the lawsuit in August 1999, initially demanding the reactor not be built. The plaintiffs had said the reactor was too weak, noting it was built using 20-year-old anti-quake-design guidelines from the government.

They said residents were at serious risk of being exposed to a major accident because the reactor is near the Ochigata fault line, which the government's Earthquake Research Committee has said could have a major temblor of magnitude 7.6.

MOX fuel boost

The long-stalled controversial plan to use recycled fuel in nuclear power reactors received a boost March 26 after Genkai in Saga Prefecture accepted the method despite nationwide safety concerns.

Mayor Tsukasa Terada and Saga Gov. Yasushi Furukawa said they accepted Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s plan to begin using uranium-plutonium mixed oxide fuel at one of its reactors.

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