Residents to file suit seeking halt of Tsuruga reactors

OTSU, Japan (Kyodo) — A group of residents from Shiga and nearby prefectures plan to file a lawsuit to suspend the restart of two nuclear reactors at the Tsuruga plant in neighboring Fukui Prefecture, arguing an accident at the plant would contaminate Lake Biwa, their water source, and be life-threatening, according to sources involved in the suit.

Among the plaintiffs’ lawyers is former judge Kenichi Ido, who in 2006 issued the first and only ruling in Japan to order the suspension of a nuclear reactor. The group plans to file for an injunction at the Otsu District Court in Shiga probably by the end of this month.

The plaintiffs argue that Tsuruga’s Nos. 1 and 2 reactors, which have been halted for routine checks, must not be restarted until lessons are learned from the crisis at the radiation-spilling Fukushima Daiichi power plant and inspections are completed under a set of new standards and regulations, the sources said.

They believe residents will face life-threatening dangers if Shiga’s Lake Biwa, Japan’s largest lake and the water source for the region including the Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe metropolitan areas, suffers radioactive contamination.

Any leakage of radioactive cesium from the nuclear plant operated by the Japan Atomic Power Co. will have immeasurable impact on the ecosystem given its relatively long half-life.

The plaintiffs also plan to stress the aging of the No. 1 rector, which has been running for over 40 years since March 1970, as well as the earthquake dangers given the multiple active faults within the vicinity where the plant stands.

In August, members of the group filed for a similar injunction to prevent the restart of seven nuclear reactors run by Kansai Electric Power Co. in Fukui Prefecture. The case is being heard at the Otsu District Court.

To date, none of the lawsuits filed by local residents in various parts of Japan over the years over the risk of critical damage to nuclear plants in an earthquake has led to the actual suspension of the plants.

The rare decision in 2006 handed down by Ido at the Kanazawa District Court that ordered the suspension of the No. 2 reactor of Hokuriku Electric Power Co.’s Shika nuclear plant in Ishikawa Prefecture was reversed in an appellate ruling, which was finalized by the Supreme Court.

Kyodo Press, October 24, 2011
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/national/archive/news/2011/10/24/20111024p2g00m0dm084000c.html

Active faults exist under nuclear plant in Aomori: study

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Active faults exist under Tohoku Electric Power Co.’s Higashidori nuclear power complex in Aomori Prefecture, a study released Monday says, calling for a review of the seismic safety of the plant.

The new report by researchers including Mitsuhisa Watanabe, professor at Toyo University, may affect a decision whether to resume operations of the plant’s reactor, which is currently shut down, as well as the earthquake-proof safety screening for other nuclear plants.

However, Tohoku Electric, which runs the single-reactor plant, and Tokyo Electric Power Co., which is building a new reactor in the same Higashidori complex, said the faults were shaped by the swelling of water-bearing strata and deny there are active faults that cause earthquakes under the plant site.

There are a number of faults beneath the complex and whether they are active is unclear, but several experts noted recently in the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency’s safety-screening process that some may be active.

In the study report, the researchers say they found characteristics that typify the existence of active faults under the plant site in analyzing the surveys conducted by the two utilities for constructing the reactors there.

Takashi Nakata, a professor emeritus at Hiroshima University who took part in the analysis, criticized the utilities for denying active faults on the pretext of the swelling effects of strata.

Kyodo Press, October 25, 2011
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/national/archive/news/2011/10/25/20111025p2g00m0dm016000c.html