Japan to restart world’s biggest nuclear plant after 15-year shutdown

The largest nuclear power plant in the world will be restarted a decade and a half after the Fukushima disaster, which resulted in a nationwide shutdown of reactors.

Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) stated on Wednesday that it planned to start operations at the Niigata province plant at 7 p.m. (10 00 GMT) and that it was “proceeding with preparations.” However, concerns about safety persist.

Following a massive earthquake and tsunami, the nation’s confidence in its nuclear energy infrastructure was destroyed by the country’s triple meltdown at Fukushima, which was managed by TEPCO.

On Wednesday, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa will start its seventh reactor, which is just one. The plant will have 8.2 gigawatts of electricity, enough to power all of the country’s millions of households, when it is fully operational.

In Niigata, on the coast of the Japan Sea, the plant is spread out over 4.2 km (1. 6 miles) of land.

To improve energy security and reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels, Japan, which has experienced setbacks with its offshore wind rollout, is returning to nuclear energy.

Out of 33 plants still in operation, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is the 15th to be restarted. Following the disaster in 2011, Japan shut down all of its 54 reactors.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is pushing for the construction of new reactors in addition to restarting those that are still viable.

To accelerate the country’s nuclear energy recovery, the government recently announced a new state funding plan.

Anxious and frightened?

As TEPCO looked into an alarm malfunction that it claims has since been fixed, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant restarted with a 15-meter-high (50-foot) tsunami wall and other safety upgrades.

Nearly 40, 000 people signed a petition to TEPCO and Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority earlier this month.

The plant was struck by a significant earthquake in 2007 because it is located in an active seismic fault zone.

The petition’s text reads, “We can’t remove the fear of being struck by another unanticipated earthquake.” It is intolerable to make many people anxious and fearful to send electricity to Tokyo.

Operators in nuclear power must never be haughty or overly confident, according to TEPCO President Tomoaki Kobayakawa, who told the Asahi daily. Safety is “an ongoing process, which means operators involved in nuclear power must never be haughty or overconfident.”