TOKYO (AP) — The world’s largest nuclear power plant in north-central Japan will restart on Wednesday for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, as resource-starved Japan accelerates its use of atomic power to meet soaring electricity demand.
The first step in energy production at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant’s No. 6 reactor is important because the operator is Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, which also operates the destroyed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. TEPCO’s past safety issues at Fukushima have raised public concerns about the operation of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, which is also located in a remote earthquake-prone area.
All seven reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant have been dormant since March 2011, when the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant on Japan’s northeastern coast was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami and suffered a meltdown that contaminated the surrounding land with radioactive fallout, leaving some areas uninhabitable.
TEPCO is still trying to recover from the blow to its image even as it carries out an estimated 22 trillion yen ($139 billion) cleanup of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The government and independent investigators have blamed TEPCO’s poor safety culture for the Fukushima accident and criticized it for colluding with safety agencies.
Fourteen other nuclear reactors have been restarted across Japan since 2011, but this is the first one operated by Tepco to resume production.
Residents near the plant welcome potential economic and employment benefits but worry about nuclear safety and the viability of evacuation plans, especially after a major earthquake in the nearby Noto region two years ago.
Worry about safety issues
Restarting the No. 6 reactor at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, about 220 kilometers (135 miles) northwest of Tokyo, will generate an additional 1.35 million kilowatts, enough to power more than 1 million homes in the capital area.
All seven units were shut down in 2012 as part of a nationwide safety shutdown following the Fukushima disaster, but they were unaffected by the earthquake and tsunami.
The Kashiwazaki Kariwa factory was partially damaged in the 2007 earthquake, causing safety concerns and distrust among locals. In response, TEPCO installed a seismic command center at the compound in 2009.
Reactor No. 6 was one of two reactors that passed safety tests in 2017, but faced an operating ban from the Nuclear Regulatory Authority due to serious safety issues discovered in 2021. It was finally approved in 2023.
Before the restart, another utility discovered falsified seismic data during a safety inspection of one of its reactors. That angered regulatory officials and shook public confidence.
Evacuation will be difficult
According to the government’s draft evacuation plan, some 18,600 residents within a 5-kilometer (3-mile) radius of the plant will need to be evacuated if there are concerns about radiation leaks, while about 400,000 residents in the wider area will be asked to stay indoors.
The 2024 Noto earthquake caused only moderate damage to two idle reactors at the nearby Shiga nuclear power plant. But the quake severely damaged roads and homes, leaving many places impassable and stranding thousands of people on the narrow peninsula.
Nuclear safety officials say such damage could render existing evacuation plans essentially impossible.
Mie Kuwabara, who lives near Kashiwazaki and participated in recent protests outside TEPCO’s Tokyo headquarters, said the information provided by the utility seemed “one-sided… and insufficient” to residents.
Growing energy demand
Japan has reversed its nuclear phase-out policy after the Fukushima accident, citing the need for stable and affordable energy supplies and the rising cost of fossil fuel imports after Russia’s war in Ukraine and other global conflicts.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hopes to maximize the use of nuclear energy by accelerating the restart of operable and safe reactors, extending their operating lives, building replacement reactors as well as new reactors, while developing next-generation models. She also wants to reduce the use of Chinese-made solar panels.
Despite a declining population, Japan expects energy demand from power-hungry AI data centers to grow. Japan aims to more than double the share of nuclear power in the country’s energy mix to 20% by 2040, under new decarbonization targets released last year.
Kansai Electric Power Co. last year announced plans to begin investigations into building a new reactor for western Japan; it would be the first new unit since the Fukushima disaster.
Lessons from the Fukushima crisis
Since the Fukushima disaster, TEPCO has strengthened seawalls and added other safety features at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant.
Workers have waterproofed the reactor buildings and other critical facilities, installed reservoirs for emergency water injections, mobilized mobile cooling units and built filtered ventilation systems that can largely remove radioactive particles when gases need to be released to prevent reactor damage.
TEPCO has spent more than 1 trillion yen ($6.33 billion) on safety measures.
When the restarted Kashiwazaki-Kariwa No. 6 reactor reaches 50% of its power generation capacity in about a week, it will be temporarily shut down for inspection, possibly in late January to early February.
TEPCO said the reactor will be restarted at the end of February, bringing it into full operation and producing commercial electricity.
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AP video reporter Mayuko Ono contributed to this report.