Japan’s Kepco Lodges Formal Appeal Against Takahama Decision

23 Apr (NucNet): Japan’s Kansai Electric Power Company (Kepco) has formally appealed for the lifting of a temporary injunction preventing the restart of Units 3 and 4 of the utility’s Takahama nuclear power station in Fukui prefecture. According to the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, Kepco said there were “factual errors” in the decision. Earlier this month the court issued the temporary injunction saying the safety of the two 830-megawatt pressurised water reactors had not been proved and criticising post-Fukushima safety standards as “lacking rationality”. This week a court in Kagoshima prefecture rejected a similar legal bid to prevent the restart of the Sendai nuclear power station on safety grounds, paving the way for Sendai’s two reactors to be the first to resume commercial operation following post-Fukushima safety checks.