Tokyo. Japan on Thursday postponed the restart process of the world’s largest nuclear energy plant, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant. Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) stated that operations were halted after the monitoring system sounded an alarm during the startup, even though the reactor was ‘stable’.
This plant in Niigata Prefecture, which had been shut down since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, was restarted on Wednesday after receiving final approval from the nuclear regulator, leading to a delayed start. However, TEPCO reported that during initial operation, issues were observed in the electrical equipment, leading them to pull back the reactor’s control rods and halt operations as a safety measure.
The reactor is ‘completely stable and there is no radioactive release outside’. The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant is considered the plant with the world’s largest capacity, but only one out of seven reactors had been restarted.
The control rods of a reactor regulate the nuclear chain reaction, which can be accelerated, slowed down, or completely stopped as needed.
Japan had kept its nuclear energy plants shut down for a long time following the meltdown of three reactors at Fukushima after the major earthquake and tsunami in 2011. However, Japan is gradually seeking to restart nuclear energy due to energy demands and the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
According to a survey in Niigata Prefecture, about 60 percent of residents oppose the restart, while 37 percent support it. Local resident Yumiko Abe, 73, said, “This is Tokyo’s electricity, so why endanger the people here?”
Earlier this month, seven protest groups submitted a petition with 40,000 signatures, mentioning that the plant is located in an active seismic zone and that the powerful earthquake in 2007 had impacted the area.
