Japan court rejects bid to block restart of 2 nuclear reactors

The Japanese government's push to return to nuclear power won a boost on Wednesday after a court rejected a bid to block the restart of two reactors deemed safe by regulators. The district court in southern Kagoshima prefecture turned down the challenge by local residents who wanted to halt the refiring of the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at the Sendai nuclear plant, a court official said. They could come back online as early as this summer. The ruling comes just over a week after another court in Fukui in central Japan sided with a citizens' group by temporarily halting the restart of the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at the Takahama nuclear plant.

Those reactors cannot resume operations unless a successful appeal by their operator overturns the injunction. Top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga declined to comment on the latest court ruling.

But he said Tokyo stood behind an earlier decision by the Nuclear Regulation Authority to greenlight the restart of all four reactors because they met new, tougher standards.