Japan Approves Restart of World’s Biggest Atomic Power Plant
(Bloomberg) -- The world’s largest nuclear power plant has won a long-delayed approval to restart, a watershed moment for Japan and its energy industry after the country witnessed the worst atomic disaster this century.
Hideyo Hanazumi, the governor of Niigata prefecture, cleared two reactors at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Kashiwazaki Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant. Speaking at a media conference on Friday, he said he would ask the local assembly to decide whether it has confidence in his decision and will allow him to continue in office, a formal step that will confirm the restart.
Nuclear power plants are “a truly serious and heavy issue for local communities,” the governor said. “I’ve spent seven years assessing this. I’d like the local assembly to evaluate my decision and how I approached my work.”
Friday’s decision is symbolic for Japan, and the strongest signal yet that the country is re-embracing nuclear power and slashing carbon from its energy mix. KK, as the plant is known, could provide cleaner power to the nation’s eastern grid, cutting reliance on imported gas and coal and helping Japan achieve its carbon neutrality goals.
Bloomberg reported the decision earlier on Friday, citing prefectural government documents that stated Hanazumi was set to give his approval.
The much-anticipated restart of the plant, a sprawling facility on the coast of Honshu, also carries enormous importance for Tepco. The utility was the operator of the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, on the opposite coast of Japan’s largest island, when the 2011 meltdown became the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. It continues to pay the price, booking a 903 billion yen ($5.7 billion) charge for decommissioning efforts earlier this year.
Hanazumi said he would seek several measures from the national government, such as making sure the power plant stays up-to-date on safety measures.
The restart will also feed into growing enthusiasm for nuclear power around the world. Expanding use of artificial intelligence and the data center boom are driving up demand for electricity, and many tech firms are turning to atomic energy to fuel their facilities.
More nuclear power for the Japanese grid would have an impact on the liquefied natural gas market. Masanori Odaka, an analyst at consultancy Rystad Energy AS, said the resumption of KK’s No. 6 unit could reduce LNG demand by roughly 130,000 tons a month. Japan imported an average of 5.3 million tons per month of LNG from January through October, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.
Hanazumi, the governor, was appointed to office in 2018 and has taken a contemplative approach to the nuclear restart. Niigata conducted a prefecture-wide survey to assess its residents’ thoughts about nuclear power, and Hanazumi himself visited the facility last week. A few days later, he trekked cross-country to Fukushima to witness firsthand the site of the 2011 accident.
That a single local politician holds so much sway over the restart of key energy infrastructure illustrates the challenge Japan faces in turning back to atomic energy. Just a third of the nation’s 33 operable reactors have restarted under post-Fukushima safety rules over the last decade. Units No. 6 and No. 7 at KK were cleared by the national regulator as far back as 2017.
The restart process has been far from smooth. Just a day before Hanazumi’s verdict, Japan’s nuclear watchdog said confidential security documents were mishandled by a Tepco employee at the plant. In the past, the regulator has also raised the safety warning for the facility to its highest level following serious security breaches. These restrictions were lifted in 2023.
(Updates the story throughout with comments from Niigata governor’s press conference.)
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