A court issued an unprecedented order Wednesday for a nuclear reactor near Kyoto to stop operating and ordered a second one to stay offline.
The Otsu District Court, which issued the injunction, said the emergency response plans and equipment designs at the two reactors have not been sufficiently upgraded after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.
The order requires Kansai Electric Power Co. to shut down the No. 3 reactor and keep the No. 4 unit offline at the Takahama plant in Fukui prefecture in western Japan, home to about a dozen reactors.
The two reactors restarted this year after a high court in December reversed an earlier injunction by another court. The No. 3 reactor, which uses a riskier plutonium-based MOX fuel, resumed operation in late January, while the No. 4 reactor had to be shut down late last month after operating for just three days because of a series of technical problems.
Kansai Electric said it would abide by the decision and start the shutdown procedures for the No. 3 reactor Thursday morning. The utility, meanwhile, said that the decision was "disappointing" and that it planned to appeal.
The decision reflects Japan's divisive views on nuclear safety and leaves only two of the country's 43 reactors in operation.
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Market Sell-Off -- 300-Point Swing
The Dow was up 140 points before the jobs report this morning. Huge jobs report allows Fed to raise rates.
Then the extent of quantitative easing in Europe will lead to strong dollar will lead to currency fluctuations and US exports falling.
Profit taking after recent 5-day run in the bull market.
At least that's my take.
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