Kyushu Electric Power, the operator of the Sendai nuclear plant, said the latest judgement was “appropriate” as it accepted the company’s opinion that the reactors’ safety was assured.
Once-trusted nuclear has become the object of public suspicion since a tsunami smashed into the Fukushima plant in March 2011, sending reactors into a meltdown that left villages uninhabitable.
The lawyer acting for the plaintiffs in the most recent case said he was disappointed.
“I doubt the court properly looked at the true extent of the Fukushima accident’s damage and horribleness,” Hiroyuki Kawai told a press conference.
“We will urgently consider lodging a complaint” to overturn the court decision, he said.
Japan’s entire stable of nuclear reactors was gradually switched off following the Fukushima disaster, which forced tens of thousands of people from their homes.
Many are still displaced and some settlements may be uninhabitable for decades, scientists warn.
But pro-nuclear premier Shinzo Abe and the country’s business sector have pushed to restart the plants that once supplied more than one quarter of Japan’s electricity, as a plunging yen had sent energy import bills through the roof.
Limited time offer:
Just RM5 per month.
