The Fukushima
Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident; Effectiveness of “Personal Rights” in the
Domestic Courts and its Implication to International Law
ISHIBASHI Kanami
The aim of this article is to explore the functions of
so-called “personal rights” invoked to seek judicial remedies or to have
injunctions order by courts to halt operation of nuclear power plants, in
domestic and international dimension. There are notable decisions (one is
judgement and the others are orders) by the courts. One is related to the
compensation to the victims who are now living in the Gunma Prefecture and
suited the government in that it failed to take necessary regulation on the
operation of the Fukushima power plant and therefore infringed their “personal
rights,” in particular, “right to a peaceful life.” The others are the orders
related to the injunctions of Takahama nuclear power plants based upon “personal
right.” While the Takahama nuclear power plants had been successfully halted for
a while even after passing the new regulation standard, the Osaka high court
turned over such orders, holding that there is no room for “personal rights”
since the safety of the Takahama nuclear power plants is ensured. Thus, personal
rights approach to get injunction order is still limited in that it can be
invoked only when lack of safety is identified. However, these domestic
practices, the Author believes, could serve as good precedents to international
law field.