Japan prepares to restart the world’s biggest nuclear plant, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, marking a major shift in energy policy 15 years after Fukushima.
NIIGATA: Japan has cleared the final regulatory hurdle to restart the world’s largest nuclear power plant, nearly 15 years after the Fukushima disaster.
The Niigata prefectural assembly passed a vote of confidence in Governor Hideyo Hanazumi, who backed the restart last month, effectively allowing operations to resume.
The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, located about 220 km northwest of Tokyo, is operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), which also ran the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
It was among 54 reactors shut down after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami triggered the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
Ahead of the vote, around 300 protesters gathered outside the assembly in 6-degree Celsius weather, holding banners reading ‘No Nukes’ and ‘We oppose the restart’.
The mostly older crowd sang ‘Furusato’, a national song about homeland, as the rally began.
“Is TEPCO qualified to run Kashiwazaki-Kariwa?”, a protester asked, with the crowd yelling: “No!”.
TEPCO is considering reactivating the first of the plant’s seven reactors on 20 January, according to public broadcaster NHK.
“We remain firmly committed to never repeating such an accident and ensuring Niigata residents never experience anything similar,” said TEPCO spokesperson Masakatsu Takata.
Takata declined to comment on the specific timing of the restart.
TEPCO earlier this year pledged to inject RM30.8 billion into the prefecture over the next decade to win local support.
A prefectural survey in October found 60% of residents felt conditions for the restart had not been met.
Nearly 70% expressed worry about TEPCO operating the plant.
Ayako Oga, 52, settled in Niigata after fleeing the Fukushima area in 2011 with 160,000 other evacuees.
Her old home was inside the 20 km irradiated exclusion zone.
“We know firsthand the risk of a nuclear accident and cannot dismiss it,” said Oga, an anti-nuclear activist and farmer.
She added that she still struggles with post-traumatic stress-like symptoms from the Fukushima disaster.
Even Governor Hanazumi hopes Japan can eventually reduce its reliance on nuclear power.
“I want to see an era where we don’t have to rely on energy sources that cause anxiety,” he said.
The vote was seen as the final hurdle before TEPCO restarts the first reactor.
That reactor alone could boost electricity supply to the Tokyo area by 2%, Japan’s trade ministry has estimated.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has backed nuclear restarts to strengthen energy security and counter the cost of imported fossil fuels.
Fossil fuels account for 60% to 70% of Japan’s electricity generation.
Japan spent RM327 billion last year on imported liquefied natural gas and coal, a tenth of its total import costs.
Despite a shrinking population, Japan expects energy demand to rise over the coming decade due to a boom in power-hungry AI data centres.
To meet these needs and its decarbonisation commitments, Japan aims to double nuclear power’s share of its electricity mix to 20% by 2040.
Joshua Ngu, vice chairman for Asia Pacific at Wood Mackenzie, said public acceptance of the restart represents “a critical milestone” towards reaching those goals.
In July, Kansai Electric Power said it would begin surveys for a new reactor in western Japan, the first new unit since Fukushima.
For protester Ayako Oga, the nuclear revival is a terrifying reminder of potential risks.
“As a victim of the Fukushima nuclear accident, I wish that no one, whether in Japan or anywhere in the world, ever again suffers the damage of a nuclear accident,” she said.
