Local court gives green light to nuclear restart in Japan's Fukui prefecture

Japan's Fukui District Court on Thursday revoked an injunction that banned the restart of the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors of the Takahama nuclear power plant, clearing the way for the restart of the two reactors.

The injunction was issued by the court in April upon request of local residents over safety concerns, though the two reactors had obtained restart approval from Japan's nuclear watchdog Nuclear Regulation Authority after a safety appraisal.

The restart has also been approved by the governor of Fukui prefecture, the mayor of Takahama, as well as the local prefectural assembly.

The Kansai Electric Power Co. looks to restart the No. 3 reactor in January and the No. 4 in February next year, which will possibly be the 3rd and 4th reactors reactivated in Japan after two reactors at the Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s Sendai plant in resumed operations earlier this year.

Japan halted all its nuclear plants in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in 2011. In order to reduce its dependency on energy imports, the Japanese government now seeks to bring more nuclear power plants back online, though public concerns over nuclear safety are still strong. Enditem