Japan To Resume Operations At World’s Largest Nuclear Plant 15 Years After Fukushima Disaster

Authored by Rachel Roberts via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Japan is set to resume operations at the world’s largest nuclear power plant, marking a key development in the country’s return to nuclear energy almost 15 years after the Fukushima disaster.

Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, located around 136 miles northwest of Tokyo, was among 54 reactors shut down after the nuclear disaster that occurred after the crippling of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan in March 2011. The disaster occurred following the 9.0 magnitude Great East Japan Earthquake, which led to a large tsunami.

Japan has now resumed nuclear power generation at 14 of the 33 plants that remain operable, as part of its shift away from reliance on fossil fuels.

Kashiwazaki-Kariwa will be the first operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), which also ran the Fukushima plant.

Operations can resume immediately following Niigata prefecture’s assembly passing a vote of confidence on Niigata Gov. Hideyo Hanazumi on Dec. 22.

Hanazumi, who backed the restart last month, said after the vote, “This is a milestone, but this is not the end.”

“There is no end in terms of ensuring the safety of Niigata residents,” he said.

Deep Divisions

The assembly session revealed the community’s deep divisions over the restart, in spite of lawmakers giving their backing to Hanazumi.

“This is nothing other than a political settlement that does not take into account the will of the Niigata residents,” an assembly member told fellow lawmakers during the session.

Around 300 protesters gathered outside the assembly holding billboards with signs expressing their opposition to the resumption in operations, such as  “No Nukes” and “Support Fukushima.”

“I am truly angry from the bottom of my heart,” Kenichiro Ishiyama, a 77-year-old protester from Niigata city, told reporters after the vote.

“If something was to happen at the plant, we would be the ones to suffer the consequences.”

Evacuation Effects

An almost 50-foot tsunami disabled the power supply and cooling of three of Fukushima Daiichi reactors, causing a nuclear accident rated level 7 on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, with a high level of radioactive release occurring.

The evacuation has been criticized for having done more harm than good, due to the effects of stress on those displaced, particularly on elderly people. Experts have concluded that the loss of life would have been far smaller if all residents had done nothing at all, or were sheltered in place, instead of being evacuated.

“We remain firmly committed to never repeating such an accident and ensuring Niigata residents never experience anything similar,” said TEPCO spokesperson Masakatsu Takata, who declined to comment on timing.

TEPCO pledged earlier this year to pour 100 billion yen ($641 million) into the district over the next 10 years as it fought to win the support of Niigata’s wary residents. The company’s shares rose by 2 percent in Monday’s afternoon trade in Tokyo, higher than the Nikkei index as a whole, which was up 1.8 percent.

A survey in October found 60 percent of residents did not think conditions for the restart had been met, with almost 70 percent worried about TEPCO operating the plant.

Farmer Ayako Oga, 52, was forced to flee the area around the Fukushima plant in 2011, along with around 160,000 other evacuees.

“We know firsthand the risk of a nuclear accident and cannot dismiss it,” said Oga, who still suffers from post-traumatic stress-like symptoms following the disaster.

Hanazumi has said he hopes Japan will eventually be able to 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 last month.

The Dec. 22 vote represented the final hurdle before TEPCO restarts the first reactor, which alone could boost electricity supply to the Tokyo area by 2 percent, according to an estimate by Japan’s trade ministry.

AI Driving Energy Demand

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has expressed her support for nuclear restarts to counter the cost of imported fossil fuels, which account for 60–70 percent of the country’s total electricity generation.

Last year, Japan spent 10.7 trillion yen ($68 billion) on imported liquefied natural gas and coal, representing a tenth of the country’s total import costs.

Despite its declining population, Japan expects energy demand to rise over the next decade, due to the power needs of artificial intelligence (AI) data processing centers.

The country has set a target of doubling the portion of nuclear power in its electricity mix to 20 percent by 2040.

Kashiwazaki-Kariwa’s total capacity is 8.2 GW, which is enough to power a few million homes.

Japan’s top nuclear power operator, Kansai Electric Power, said in July it would begin conducting surveys for a reactor in western Japan, in what is planned to be the country’s first new plant since the Fukushima disaster.

Reuters contributed to this report.