Japan set to restart world's biggest nuclear plant
Japan is preparing to approve the restart of the world’s largest nuclear power facility the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant. in what would mark the country’s most significant step toward reviving its nuclear energy sector since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, according to reports in Kyodo News and the Nikkei business daily.
The approval is expected to come this week from Hideyo Hanazumi, governor of Niigata prefecture, where the plant is located. He is reportedly planning to hold a news conference on Friday. Only one of the plant’s seven reactors is slated to resume operations in the initial phase, the reports said.
Japan shut down all its nuclear reactors following the catastrophic triple meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi after a massive earthquake and tsunami struck in March 2011. The accident triggered a deep public mistrust of nuclear power and led to sweeping safety reforms. Since then, 14 reactors — mainly in western and southern Japan — have restarted under the country’s stringent post-Fukushima regulatory regime.
If approved, the restart at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa would be the first for Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), the operator of the Fukushima plant, marking a pivotal moment in Japan’s energy policy. The government has been pushing to reactivate nuclear plants to curb reliance on imported fossil fuels, stabilize energy supplies, and meet its goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
The restart plan comes as Japan struggles with the long and complex task of decommissioning the crippled Fukushima site. The process is expected to span several decades. In August, engineers deployed remote-controlled robots into one of the damaged reactor buildings to begin preparing for the removal of melted fuel and radioactive debris — considered one of the most challenging phases of the cleanup due to extreme radiation levels.
Japan’s renewed nuclear push also follows moves by Kansai Electric, which announced in July it was initiating steps to build what could become the country’s first new nuclear reactor since the Fukushima crisis.
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