Court Rejects Bid to Halt Western Japan N-Reactor

Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Pref., Feb. 26 (Jiji Press)–A Japanese court on Thursday dismissed a petition seeking to stop operations of the No. 3 reactor of Shikoku Electric Power Co.’s Ikata nuclear power plant in the western Japan prefecture of Ehime. “It cannot be acknowledged that there exists any concrete danger to the plaintiffs’ lives or bodies,” Presiding Judge Akira Ogawa of the Iwakuni branch of Yamaguchi District Court said, rejecting the petition filed by 162 residents in Yamaguchi Prefecture, also in western Japan, and other areas, who argued that operations should be suspended due to safety concerns. The plaintiffs are considering filing an appeal. The main points of contention included the assumptions regarding potential earthquakes and the assessment of volcanic eruption risks posed by Mount Aso in the southwestern Japan prefecture of Kumamoto, which is located about 130 kilometers from the nuclear plant. The residents claimed that the plant’s proximity to a fault zone, which they believe may be active, requires a special evaluation under the new national regulatory standards. However, they said no such assessment has been carried out. On this, Ogawa said in the ruling that, based on the results of Shikoku Electric’s marine seismic survey, the company’s assessment that there is no active fault in the vicinity of the plant site is “not unreasonable.” Regarding the residents’ allegation that the scale of a potential major eruption at Mt. Aso was underestimated, the presiding judge said that the magma beneath the mountain is not of a large scale and that “a massive eruption is not imminent.” Similar claims regarding the No. 3 reactor were dismissed by Oita District Court in March 2024 and by Hiroshima and Matsuyama district courts in March 2025. In December 2017 and January 2020, Hiroshima High Court issued provisional orders to suspend operations, but both were overturned on appeal. On the latest ruling, Shikoku Electric said in a statement, “We believe that the court has recognized our conventional position that the safety of the Ikata plant’s No. 3 reactor has been adequately ensured.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]