Judicial Intervention in Nukes Argument

The judicial branch of Japanese government at last intervened in argument over resumption of halted nuclear reactors in power generation plants. Fukui Regional Court acknowledged insufficiency of safety measures against earthquakes in Oi Nuclear Power Plant and ordered Kansai Electric Power Company not to resume those reactors. KEPCO announced it would appeal to higher court. Although it was not a final decision, the judgment has a great significance as the first authorization by the government on viability of the argument against resumptions of nuclear reactors.

The sentence firstly put the highest value on “right of personality” based on right of life. Then it focused on possibility of causing actual danger paralleled with the accident in First Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant three years ago, rather than compliance with new safety standards adopted in last summer.

On that conceptual basis, the decision dismissed the estimation of impact on the reactors in Oi when a major earthquake would happen. While KEPCO had set the basis for quake acceleration at 700 Gal, the court denied credibility of that estimation and indicated possibility of reaching 1260 Gal, which the company submitted as a impossible tipping point of meltdown in reactor. It also cast a skepticism on firmness of the building in which a number of used nuclear fuel rods were stocked.

To the delights of protestors against current nuclear policy, the decision fiercely criticized KEPCO’s attitude highly leaning on economic profitability. “Although KEPCO assert that nuclear power generation leads to stable supply of electric power, it is not legally tolerable for KEPCO to join and make a decision in a discussion that compares the right related to many lives and cost of electricity,” said the decision. It defined national wealth as life based on rich soil, and lost of national wealth as making it unrecoverable.

The executive branch, which had already been running to resumption of nuclear reactors, ignored it. Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga, simply responded, saying “It is right to resume reactors based on objective assessment about safety.” However, there was no objection from executive branch against the concept that resumption of nuclear reactors would violate human rights. A week ago, Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, argued that Japan needed to send its troops to protect human rights of Japanese people. Now, he is criticized as offending human rights by resuming nuclear reactors.

In Japan, similar lawsuits were raised anywhere nuclear power plants exist. It is worth watching whether other courts will follow the viewpoint of human rights of people living around nuclear power plants. If Japan keeps on saying that it has the world highest standard for nuclear power generation, the government will need to pay attention to those people.