Earlier, on December 3, the mayor of Takahama Town had already expressed his agreement to restarting the two units. Attention now shifts to the judgment of the Fukui governor. Additionally, the Fukui District Court had issued a temporary injunction on April 14 blocking the operation of the two units, against which Kansai EP appealed, filing its objections on the same day.
According to the resolution, the prefecture had provided a wide range of opportunities to discuss issues since the March 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi NPPs, making various proposals in regard to the public understanding of energy policy and the improvement of safety at NPPs, in order to ensure nuclear energy safety and alleviate public anxiety.
The prefectural assembly thus concluded that restarting the two reactors’ operation was “necessary” given that their safety had been examined stringently and confirmed by the national and prefectural governments. In its decision, it had comprehensively considered energy security matters, global warming measures, and the need to boost the local economy.
In its recent resolution, the prefecture also asked the national government and Kansai EP to thoroughly explain the restart of the two reactors to the public, and to strive further to improve safety and strengthen cooperation between the national government and local municipalities on preparedness for nuclear emergencies.
Fukui Prefecture also called for the establishment of a reliable system to reprocess spent fuel, with strengthened measures to store it, as well as steady work on the issue of final disposal of high-level radioactive waste (HLW).
