Japan court rejects bid to restart of 2 nuclear reactors
A court issued an injunction Tuesday ordering two nuclear reactors in western Japan to stay offline, rejecting regulators' safety approval for the facility ahead of their planned restart later this year, a decision that could further delay the government's restart plans.
The Fukui District Court ordered the operator, Kansai Electric Power Co., not to restart the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at the Takahama plant in Fukui prefecture, which is home to about a dozen reactors.
The court criticized the Nuclear Regulation Authority's safety standards for being too lax even with stricter requirements imposed following the Fukushima crisis after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
The ruling said meeting the new standards does not guarantee the safety of the Takahama reactors.
