TOKYO - A Japanese district court on Friday upheld the government's decision to approve operations at a nuclear waste disposal plant in northern Japan, in the country's first ruling on the safety of an underground nuclear facility.
The Aomori district court rejected a suit filed in 1991 by a group of more than 100 citizens from across Japan who sought to have the government withdraw its approval for operations at the Rokkasho-mura plant in Aomori prefecture, a court spokesman said.
The group had said the concrete wall of the underground plant run by Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. could be eroded by groundwater and damaged by earthquakes, eventually leading to the leakage of radioactive materials to the outside environment.
But the court said the government had conducted sufficient safety inspections to issue approval for the operations, the spokesman said.
He added that many members of the plaintiff group were not eligible to file such a suit.
Japan Nuclear Fuel's underground facility in northern Japan has been in operation since 1992, a company spokesman said.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
