Antinuclear

Another defeat for nuclear lobby as Japanese court blocks nuclear reactors’ restart

Japan court again blocks restart of 2 nuclear reactors, Nikkei Asian Review, 13 July 16  OSAKA — Handed another defeat by a Japanese court on Tuesday, Kansai Electric Power likely will not be able to run any of its nuclear power plants for at least six months, a major setback for a utility facing intense competition from industry newcomers.

The Otsu District Court in Shiga Prefecture rejected the company’s objection to an injunction issued in March that suspended operation of the Nos. 3 and 4 reactors at the Takahama nuclear plant in neighboring Fukui Prefecture. The presiding judge was the same as when the injunction was issued.

The Osaka-based company had been banking on the restart of nuclear power stations for an earnings recovery. Its medium-term business plan released in April set a pretax profit target of 300 billion yen ($2.87 billion) on the assumption that most of its nuclear reactors will be back online by fiscal 2025.

Assuming that its earnings would improve by about 10 billion yen a month if the two Takahama reactors went back onstream, Kansai Electric had intended to lower its power rates to compete on a better footing with newcomers expected to enter the market following deregulation in April. But it was forced to scrap its plan to cut rates after the court ordered the two reactors — reactivated in January and February — shut down in March.

Since April, Kansai Electric has lost more than 200,000 customers to Osaka Gasand other power providers. ……..http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Japan-court-again-blocks-restart-of-2-nuclear-reactors

July 13, 2016 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized