The Nagoya High Court reversed a lower court decision on Monday and nullified the national government's 1983 go-ahead for construction of the trouble-plagued Monju fast-breeder nuclear reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture -- a ruling that could lead to the costly plant being mothballed.
In a landmark decision favoring residents seeking to halt construction or operation of nuclear reactors, the ruling supported the claim of the plaintiffs, who blamed a massive leak of sodium coolant at the plant in 1995 on shortcomings in the government's preconstruction safety assessments.
"Flaws exist in the safety assessments needed to prevent an accident like leakage of radioactive material inside a reactor to the neighboring environment," presiding Judge Kazuo Kawasaki said in the ruling at the court's Kanazawa branch. "Thus the possibility of concrete threats cannot be discounted."