TEPCO Restarts Nuclear Plant for First Time in 15 Years Since Fukushima Accident

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Photo by AP Yonhap News

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has restarted Reactor No. 6 at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant in Niigata Prefecture, located in central Honshu, Japan. This marks the first time in approximately 15 years that TEPCO has restarted a nuclear power plant since the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

According to Kyodo News and other sources on January 21, TEPCO initiated the reactor at around 7 p.m. by withdrawing the control rods that suppress nuclear fission. The restart was originally scheduled for the previous day, but was postponed due to the discovery of an alarm system malfunction during testing.

The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant houses seven reactors, with a combined output of 8,212,000 kilowatts, making it the largest single nuclear power plant in the world. However, only Reactor No. 6 is being restarted this time.

This is the first time since the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, which was operated by TEPCO and occurred during the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, that the company has restarted a nuclear facility in about 15 years.

Following the Fukushima Daiichi accident in 2011, Japan halted operations at all its nuclear power plants, but has since been gradually increasing nuclear operations again. The restart of Reactor No. 6 at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant marks the fifteenth reactor to resume operations.

TEPCO, which operated the Fukushima Daiichi plant, has faced difficulties in obtaining local residents' consent due to a lack of trust. The company plans to gradually increase the output of the restarted Reactor No. 6 and resume commercial operations around February 26.