KARIWA, Japan: The world’s biggest nuclear power plant is set to restart on Wednesday (Jan 21) for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, its Japanese operator said, despite persistent safety concerns among residents.
The governor of Niigata province, where the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant is located, approved its resumption last month, although public opinion remains sharply divided.
After receiving the final green light on Wednesday, Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) said it was “proceeding with preparations … and plan to remove the control rods after 7pm today (6pm, Singapore time) and start up the reactor”.
On Tuesday, a few dozen protesters – mostly elderly – braved freezing temperatures to demonstrate in the snow near the plant’s entrance, whose buildings line the Sea of Japan coast.
“It’s Tokyo’s electricity that is produced in Kashiwazaki, so why should the people here be put at risk? That makes no sense,” Yumiko Abe, a 73-year-old resident, told AFP.
Around 60 per cent of residents oppose the restart, while 37 per cent support it, according to a survey conducted in September.
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is the world’s biggest nuclear power plant by potential capacity, although just one reactor of seven is restarting Wednesday.
The facility was taken offline when Japan pulled the plug on nuclear power after a colossal earthquake and tsunami sent three reactors at the Fukushima atomic plant into meltdown in 2011.
However, resource-poor Japan now wants to revive atomic energy to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and meet growing energy needs from artificial intelligence.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has voiced support for the energy source.
Fourteen reactors, mostly in western and southern Japan, have resumed operation since the post-Fukushima shutdown under strict safety rules, with 13 running as of mid-January.
The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa unit would be the first run by Tokyo Electric power (TEPCO) – which also operates the stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant, now being decommissioned – to restart since 2011.
Nearly 15 years after the disaster, “the situation is still not under control in Fukushima, and TEPCO wants to revive a plant? For me, that’s absolutely unacceptable,” said Keisuke Abe, an 81-year-old demonstrator.
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