Japan restarting world’s biggest nuclear plant, offline since the 2011 Fukushima disaster

Inside the reactor containment vessel of the unit seven reactor building at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station in Kashiwazaki, in Japan's Niigata prefecture. The world's biggest nuclear power plant is set to restart tonight, for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, its Japanese operator said. Photo / Yuichi Yamazaki, AFP

The world’s biggest nuclear power plant was set to restart today 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, Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) said it was “proceeding with preparations ... and plan to remove the control rods after 7pm [11pm] today and start up the reactor”.

Yesterday, 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% of residents oppose the restart, while 37% 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.

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 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.

‘Anxious and fearful’

The vast Kashiwazaki-Kariwa complex has been fitted with a 15m-high tsunami wall, elevated emergency power systems and other safety upgrades.

However, residents raised concerns about the risk of a serious accident, citing frequent cover-up scandals, minor accidents and evacuation plans they say are inadequate.

“I think it’s impossible to evacuate in an emergency,” Chie Takakuwa, a 79-year-old resident of Kariwa, told AFP.

On January 8, seven groups opposing the restart submitted a petition signed by nearly 40,000 people to TEPCO and Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority.

The petition said the plant sits on an active seismic fault zone and noted it was struck by a strong quake in 2007.

“We can’t remove the fear of being hit by another unforeseen earthquake,” it said.

“Making many people anxious and fearful so as to send electricity to Tokyo ... is intolerable.”

Before the 2011 disaster - which killed around 18,000 people - nuclear power generated about a third of Japan’s electricity.

String of scandals

Japan’s nuclear industry has also faced a string of scandals and incidents in recent weeks, including data falsification by Chubu Electric Power to underestimate seismic risks.

At Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, TEPCO said last weekend that an alarm system failed during a test.

“Safety is an ongoing process, which means operators involved in nuclear power must never be arrogant or overconfident,” TEPCO President Tomoaki Kobayakawa said in an interview with the Asahi daily.

Japan is the world’s fifth-largest single-country emitter of carbon dioxide, after China, the United States, India and Russia, and is heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels.

Nearly 70% of its electricity in 2023 came from coal, gas and oil - a share Tokyo wants to slash to 30-40% over the next 15 years as it expands renewable energy and nuclear power.

Under a plan approved by the Government in February, nuclear power will account for around a fifth of Japan’s energy supply by 2040 - up from around 8.5% in the 2023-24 financial year.

Japan still faces the daunting task of decommissioning the Fukushima plant, a project expected to take decades.

-Agence France-Presse