Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (Tepco) has pledged to place safety as its top priority as it prepares to restart the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture, the world’s largest nuclear facility.
Tepco President Tomiaki Kobayakawa said on Wednesday that the company plans to restart the first unit of the plant on January 20, following approval from the Niigata Prefectural Assembly earlier this week. The move marks Tepco’s first nuclear reactor restart since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011.
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, located around 220 kilometers northwest of Tokyo, was among 54 reactors shut down nationwide after the massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011 triggered meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 plant—considered the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.
“As the company responsible for the Fukushima No. 1 accident, we will apply the reflections and lessons learned,” Kobayakawa said. “We will proceed with the restart, the first in 14 years, with safety as the absolute priority.”
The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant has a total generating capacity of 8.2 gigawatts, enough to supply electricity to several million households. The initial restart will bring one 1.36-gigawatt unit online, while another unit of the same capacity is planned to resume operations around 2030. Tepco has also indicated that it may decommission some of the plant’s remaining five reactors.
Japan has so far restarted 14 of the 33 operable nuclear reactors as it seeks to reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels and strengthen energy security. In November, the government outlined a public loan system proposal as part of efforts to double the share of nuclear power in the country’s energy mix.
The restart of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is seen as a significant step in Japan’s nuclear policy, though it continues to face public scrutiny and strong safety expectations in the post-Fukushima era.