The world’s largest nuclear power plant is set to restart on Wednesday for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, its Japanese operator, Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), has said, despite lingering safety concerns among local residents.
The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant, located in Niigata prefecture along Japan’s Sea of Japan coast, received final approval last month from the provincial governor, even as public opinion in the area remains deeply divided.
After securing the final clearance on Wednesday, TEPCO said it was “proceeding with preparations” and planned to remove the control rods and begin reactor start-up later in the evening. Only one of the plant’s seven reactors is scheduled to resume operations.
On Tuesday, several dozen protesters, many of them elderly, demonstrated in freezing conditions near the facility’s entrance. Residents expressed fears that the risks were being borne locally while the electricity generated would mainly serve Tokyo.
“It’s Tokyo’s electricity that is produced in Kashiwazaki, so why should the people here be put at risk? That makes no sense,” said 73-year-old resident Yumiko Abe.
A survey conducted in September showed that about 60 per cent of residents oppose the restart, while 37 per cent support it.
The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa complex was shut down in 2011 after a massive earthquake and tsunami triggered meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, also operated by TEPCO. In the aftermath, Japan suspended nuclear power nationwide.
However, energy-poor Japan has since moved to revive atomic energy as part of efforts to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, and meet rising electricity demand, including from artificial intelligence technologies. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has publicly backed the policy shift.
Since the post-Fukushima shutdown, 14 reactors — mostly in western and southern Japan — have been approved to resume operations under tightened safety regulations, with 13 currently running as of mid-January. The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa unit will be the first TEPCO-run reactor to restart since 2011.
Despite major safety upgrades, including a 15-metre-high tsunami wall and elevated emergency power systems, residents remain wary. Critics point to past cover-up scandals, minor safety incidents, and evacuation plans they consider inadequate.
“I think it’s impossible to evacuate in an emergency,” said Chie Takakuwa, a 79-year-old resident of nearby Kariwa.
Earlier this month, seven civic groups opposing the restart submitted a petition signed by nearly 40,000 people to TEPCO and Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority. The petition cited the plant’s location on an active seismic fault zone and recalled damage from a strong earthquake in 2007.
Japan’s nuclear industry has also faced renewed scrutiny following recent incidents, including data falsification by Chubu Electric Power to downplay seismic risks. At Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, TEPCO acknowledged over the weekend that an alarm system malfunctioned during a test.
“Safety is an ongoing process, which means operators involved in nuclear power must never be arrogant or overconfident,” TEPCO president Tomoaki Kobayakawa said.
Before the Fukushima disaster, nuclear power supplied about a third of Japan’s electricity. In 2023, nearly 70 per cent of power generation came from coal, gas and oil — a figure the government aims to cut sharply over the next 15 years.
Under a government plan approved in February, nuclear energy is expected to provide about 20 per cent of Japan’s electricity by 2040, up from around 8.5 per cent in the 2023–24 fiscal year. Meanwhile, the decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi plant continues, a process expected to take decades.
