 "Japan faces a nuclear question as local backlash hobbles plan to revive Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant")
Locals in Japan’s Niigata prefecture are ramping up against the recommissioning of a nuclear power plant in their area, which happens to be one of the biggest in the world. Authorities hope to revitalise the region’s economy by investing on the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power plant.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), known for operating the Fukushima power plan before the 2011 mishap, has been planning to restart the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant for years.
About the power plant
Tepco has proposed the creation of a $667 million fund to “contribute monetarily to vitalising the regional economy” of the Niigata prefecture.
The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant has remained shut since 2012, after the Nuclear Regulation Authority prohibited its operator, Tepco, from running the facility in 2021 over safety violations. The regulator lifted that ban in December 2023, clearing the way for the plant’s restart.
Tokyo is keen to restart its fleet to meet growing power demands and reduce carbon emissions. Japan aims to supply 20 per cent of electricity via nuclear power by 2040.
‘It’s bribery’
The plan has received massive backlash anti-nuclear activists. Hajime Matsukubo, secretary general of the Tokyo-based Citizens’ Nuclear Information Centre told This Week in Asia, “This is a big step forward for Tepco because they really want to restart the plant and the scale of the offer shows that. But this is simply bribery.”
Residents are split on whether Tepco should be allowed to restart the nuclear power plant or not, opinion polls show.
Following the Fukishima nuclear disaster, Japan closed all this power plants and conducted rigourous safety checks and inspections. Since 2015, 14 reactors have been restarted while 11 others are currently in the process of restart approval.
The controversy over restarting one of the world’s largest nuclear power plants underscores Japan’s struggle to balance its commitment to cutting emissions with the need for a reliable energy supply. While bringing more nuclear reactors back online could help achieve that goal, strong public opposition and persistent safety concerns, particularly in communities near the plants, continue to pose major obstacles.
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