Japan reactivates reactor at the world's largest nuclear power plant

Japanese energy company Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) reactivated one of its seven reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant on Wednesday, the company announced. The world's largest nuclear power plant, with a total output of 8.2 GW, was taken offline in 2011 following the meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi reactor. The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa reactor is the fifteenth reactor to be brought back online. A total of 33 reactors are still considered operational in Japan.

In total, 54 reactors were shut down after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. However, Japan's departure from nuclear power has not gone particularly well since then. The transition to offshore wind energy has progressed more slowly than expected. The use of gas and coal-fired power plants is also not moving forward due to the necessary imports of fossil fuels and the associated high costs.

To maintain energy security for Japan's industry, the Japanese government has therefore decided to refocus on nuclear energy and restart some shutdown reactors. In addition to restarting old reactors, Japan is also focusing on the latest generation of small modular reactors (SMR).

The government hopes that by reintroducing nuclear energy, it can significantly reduce imports of fossil fuels. The reactivation of reactor 6 at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa alone, with an output of 1.36 GW, is expected to reduce annual liquefied natural gas imports from 66 million tons to 62 million tons.

Energy supply for Tokyo

For the energy company TEPCO, this is the first reactor to be reactivated. The resumption of operations was initiated after approval from the Japanese nuclear regulatory authority, the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA). Extensive tests were carried out to ensure operational safety. The reactor was actually scheduled to resume service on January 20th. However, this was delayed due to a malfunction in the alarm system of reactor number 6. Commercial operation is now expected to begin by the end of February. The energy produced there will be used to supply electricity to the greater Tokyo area. TEPCO plans to reactivate reactor 7 at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa as well. However, this is not expected to happen until 2030. The other reactors at the nuclear power plant, on the other hand, may remain shut down.

The NRA is currently reviewing the reactivation of six other reactors from other energy providers. This may prove difficult for Chubu Electric. According to the NRA, the energy company manipulated seismic data and downplayed the risk of earthquakes to be allowed to reactivate reactors 3 and 4 at the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant.

(olb)