Residents have filed two interim injunctions requesting that Kansai Electric Power Co.'s Mihama Nuclear Power Plant Unit 3 and Takahama Nuclear Power Plant Units 1 to 4 not be operated in Fukui Prefecture, citing the risk of accidents due to aging. The Fukui District Court will make a decision on the 29th.

Residents of Fukui Prefecture and other areas have been worried about the Kansai Electric Power Company's Mihama Nuclear Power Plant Unit 3 and Takahama Nuclear Power Plant Units 1 to 4 due to deterioration over time and inadequate seismic resistance against large earthquakes, resulting in serious accidents. They have filed for a provisional injunction against Kansai Electric Power Company, requesting that the plants not be operated, alleging that there is a risk of a disaster occurring and that the evacuation plan is inadequate.



On the other hand, Kansai Electric Power is requesting that the complaint be dismissed, claiming that ``safety has been ensured by conducting necessary seismic reinforcement work and conducting seismic safety evaluations that take into account deterioration over time.''



In principle, the operation of nuclear power plants is limited to 40 years after the accident at Tokyo Electric Power Company's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, but


▼Mihama Nuclear Power Plant Unit 3 and


▼Takahama Nuclear Power Plant Units 1 and 2 are


in operation after receiving approval from the Nuclear Regulation Authority. Takahama Nuclear Power Plant Units 3 and 4

have restarted operations more than 40 years after they started operations.Next


year, it will be 40 years since they started operation.



Regarding Mihama Nuclear Power Plant Unit 3, on the 15th of this month, the Osaka High Court issued a decision rejecting a petition for a provisional injunction requested by other residents not to operate the plant.



The Fukui District Court's decision will be announced at 1 p.m. on the 29th, and all eyes will be on how it will judge the safety of nuclear power plants.

Main issues and claims

In their petition for a provisional injunction requesting that Kansai Electric Power Co.'s Mihama Nuclear Power Plant Unit 3 and Takahama Nuclear Power Plant Units 1 to 4 not be operated, residents are alleging the risk of accidents due to aging.

1 Danger due to aging

Mihama Nuclear Power Plant Unit 3 and Takahama Nuclear Power Plant Units 1 and 2 have restarted operations more than 40 years after they began operation, and next year will mark 40 years since Takahama Nuclear Power Plant Units 3 and 4 began operation.



The most attention-grabbing issue is whether nuclear power plants, which have been in operation for over 40 years, are safe.



The residents said, ``Operating an aging nuclear power plant dramatically increases the risk of an accident.The difficulty of countermeasures for deterioration is that at the Takahama Nuclear Power Plant, which has been in operation for nearly 40 years, there was a cable failure in Unit 4, and that in Unit 3. This is clear from the fact that the pipes in the area were worn out.''



In response, Kansai Electric Power said, ``Even when applying for an extension of operation period exceeding 40 years, we conduct special inspections and evaluation of deterioration status, and the extension of operation is approved by the Nuclear Regulation Authority.60 years have passed since the start of operation. The company claims that safety has been ensured by carrying out seismic safety evaluations that take into account deterioration over time.

2 Safety against earthquakes

Another point of contention was whether safety against earthquakes was ensured.



Residents say that Mihama Nuclear Power Plant Unit 3 has not been designed with sufficient earthquake resistance, and that ``the distance between the site of the nuclear power plant and the active fault that is the epicenter of the earthquake is less than 1 kilometer, We should take into account the shaking caused by an earthquake if the area is very close to the site.''



On the other hand, Kansai Electric Power said, ``We have carried out the necessary seismic reinforcement work at all nuclear power plants, and confirmed the seismic safety of all safety-important equipment against the expected earthquake shaking strength = standard earthquake ground motion.'' Regarding Unit 3 of the Mihama Nuclear Power Plant, they claim, ``The Nuclear Regulation Authority has determined that this does not apply if the epicenter is extremely close to the site.''

3 Evacuation plan in case of accident

Furthermore, there has been controversy over evacuation plans in the event of a nuclear power plant accident, with residents considering the Noto Peninsula Earthquake that occurred in January this year to consider what would happen if their houses collapsed and they were unable to evacuate indoors. We believe that there are some deficiencies.



In response, Kansai Electric Power said, ``The emergency response, including the evacuation plan created with the support of the government, has been confirmed by the national Nuclear Disaster Prevention Council to be specific and reasonable in light of the Nuclear Emergency Preparedness Guidelines. It is claimed that

What is Mihama Nuclear Power Plant Unit 3?

Kansai Electric Power Co.'s Mihama Nuclear Power Plant Unit 3, located in Mihama Town, Fukui Prefecture, began commercial operation in 1976 and has been operating for over 40 years under the current system, which sets the operating period to 40 years in principle.



The power generation output is 826,000 kilowatts, equivalent to the amount used by approximately 1.85 million ordinary households in one year.



In 2004, a pipe in the turbine building broke during operation and hot steam spewed out, killing five workers and seriously injuring six others.



Before the accident, Kansai Electric Power was aware that the damaged pipes had not been inspected even once in the 28 years since the start of operation, but the company's failure to take countermeasures became a problem, and it took two days before operations resumed. It took a year and a half.



Subsequently, in response to the 2011 TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident, the Nuclear Regulation Authority, which was established after the accident in 2016, decided to change the operating period of nuclear power plants, which was legally limited to 40 years in principle. We passed both the regulatory standards review and the review required to extend the operating period.



After completing the necessary safety measures and obtaining consent from Fukui Prefecture and other authorities, the plant will restart operation in 2021, and has continued to operate for over 40 years.



Concerning Unit 3 of the Mihama Nuclear Power Plant, on the 15th of this month, the Osaka High Court ruled, ``While concerns about deterioration of equipment over time cannot be denied, as a result of a special inspection, no significant defects or deterioration were found in the reactor vessel, etc., and countermeasures were insufficient.'' The decision was made to dismiss a request by other residents for a provisional injunction asking them not to drive.

What is Takahama Nuclear Power Plant Units 1 to 4?

The Kansai Electric Power Company's Takahama Nuclear Power Plant, located in Takahama Town, Fukui Prefecture, is a nuclear power plant with four nuclear reactors from Units 1 to 4. The oldest, Unit 1, was built in 1974, Unit 2 in 1975, and Units 3 and 4. Both began commercial operation in 1985.



When all reactors are in operation, the combined power output is nearly 3.4 million kilowatts, equivalent to the amount used by approximately 7.62 million ordinary households in one year.



Following the 2011 accident at Tokyo Electric Power Company's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, all four reactors remained out of operation, but Units 1 and 2 were subject to new regulations by the Nuclear Regulation Authority that were established after the accident. The plant passed both the standard review and the review necessary to extend its operating period, and last year it restarted operations after exceeding its 40-year operating period.



Meanwhile, Units 3 and 4 had passed the examination of new regulatory standards and were making preparations for restarting operations, but in April 2015, the Fukui District Court issued a provisional disposition disallowing their restart. Did.



In December of that year, another presiding judge rescinded the decision, and the reactor was restarted once in 2016, but three days after the reactor was started, reactor No. 4 suffered problems when starting power generation and transmission. The reactor has automatically shut down.



In the same year, the Otsu District Court issued a provisional injunction ordering Units 3 and 4 to cease operation, pointing out that the method used to evaluate the expected earthquake shaking was inadequate, and Kansai Electric Power continued to operate the units. The No. 3 nuclear reactor was shut down, making this the first case in which an operating nuclear power plant was shut down by a court decision.



Subsequently, the Osaka High Court rescinded the decision to suspend operations, and Takahama Nuclear Power Plant Units 3 and 4 resumed operation.As next year will mark 40 years since the start of operation, the Nuclear Regulation Authority asked the Nuclear Regulation Authority last year to determine the period of operation. I have submitted an application for an extension.