Japan High Court Rejects Request to Halt Restarted Onagawa N-Reactor

   Sendai, Miyagi Pref., Nov. 27 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese high court upheld on Wednesday a lower court ruling rejecting a request to halt the No. 2 reactor at Tohoku Electric Power Co.'s Onagawa nuclear power plant in Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan.
   On Oct. 29, the Onagawa No. 2 reactor was restarted for the first time in 13 years, becoming the first boiling water reactor to be put back online after a triple meltdown at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. The reactors at the Fukushima plant are also boiling water reactors.
   A total of 16 people living within 30 kilometers of the Onagawa plant filed the lawsuit against Tohoku Electric in May 2021, claiming that an evacuation plan established for a nuclear accident at the nuclear reactor was not effective.
   Sendai District Court dismissed the plaintiffs' claims in May 2023 without going into detail about the evacuation plan, saying that the plaintiffs had failed to demonstrate the specific possibility of related risks.
   The plaintiffs argued that the district court's decision that the plaintiffs were responsible for proving the specific dangers was wrong. They also said that the possibility of an accident existed, regardless of whether the dangers are proved or not.

(2024/11/27-18:07)

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