COURT TO JUDGE WHETHER TO SCRAP HOKKAIDO'S TOMARI NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

TOKYO, May 31 -- NHK World issued the following news:

A district court in Hokkaido, northern Japan, is set to hand down a ruling in a lawsuit demanding that a local nuclear power plant be scrapped for safety reasons. Attention is focused on how the court will judge the plant's safety.

The ruling by the Sapporo District Court is scheduled to take place at 3 p.m. on Tuesday.

More than 1,200 plaintiffs, including local residents, have demanded that the operation of the No.1 through 3 reactors of the Tomari nuclear power plant be banned and the plant decommissioned because its safety measures are insufficient.

The lawsuit has continued for over a decade. At issue is whether there are active faults inside and near the plant, and if its tsunami measures are sufficient.

The plaintiffs said the plant's anti-disaster measures do not take into consideration the possibility of major earthquakes despite the presence of active faults. They also claim that the breakwater in place may not protect the plant in the event of a tsunami.

The plant's operator, Hokkaido Electric Power Company, has denied the existence of active faults. It also said the plant has sufficient tsunami protection.

All three reactors have been offline since 2012, when the No.3 reactor ceased operation for regular inspections. But the Nuclear Regulation Authority's screening of the Tomari plant has taken years and it remains unknown when it will resume operations. For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at contentservices@htlive.com