Japan nuclear reactors restart: FoE Japan urgent request to halt vetting procedures and review new nuclear safety standards

The document is a public statement addressed to the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) of Japan. It argues that current nuclear safety standards lack rationality and fail to ensure safety, citing a Fukui District Court ruling that blocked the restart of reactors No. 3 and 4 at the Takahama nuclear power plant. The authors demand a fundamental review of these standards and a halt to all current vetting procedures for restarting reactors.

• The Fukui District Court issued an injunction preventing the restart of reactors No. 3 and 4 at the Takahama nuclear power plant, owned by Kansai Electric Power Co., because the plant is not subject to new safety regulations and remains vulnerable.
• The court identified specific vulnerabilities that must be addressed to reduce risk, including the need for fundamental seismic upgrading of design/reference seismic movement, upgrading external power and main water supplies to S-class seismic standards, enclosing spent nuclear fuel in robust facilities, and upgrading spent nuclear fuel pool water supply facilities to S-class seismic standards.
• The court ruled that Japan's new regulatory standards lack rationality and are insufficient to ensure safety, stating that compliance with these standards does not guarantee the prevention of a serious disaster even in rare events.
• The authors argue that because the NRA's safety standards are fundamentally flawed, the safety of all nuclear power plants in Japan is not assured, not just those at the Takahama plant.

APA

admin (2015). Japan nuclear reactors restart: FoE Japan urgent request to halt vetting procedures and review new nuclear safety standards. Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/japan-nuclear-reactors-restart/

Chicago

admin. Japan nuclear reactors restart: FoE Japan urgent request to halt vetting procedures and review new nuclear safety standards. Friends of the Earth International, 2015. https://www.foei.org/japan-nuclear-reactors-restart/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=admin |title=Japan nuclear reactors restart: FoE Japan urgent request to halt vetting procedures and review new nuclear safety standards |publisher=Friends of the Earth International |date=19 April 2015 |url=https://www.foei.org/japan-nuclear-reactors-restart/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{admin2015japan, author = {admin}, title = {{Japan nuclear reactors restart: FoE Japan urgent request to halt vetting procedures and review new nuclear safety standards}}, publisher = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2015}, month = apr, url = {https://www.foei.org/japan-nuclear-reactors-restart/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }