Tokyo (EFE).- The Japanese power company TEPCO plans to reopen the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, the world’s largest by capacity, on Jan. 20, after obtaining approval from local authorities, the company confirmed in a statement.
After detailing the inspections carried out by the company to reactivate reactor number 6 of the plant, which has been dormant since the Fukushima nuclear disaster of 2011, the firm explained that it has requested the national nuclear regulator to restart the unit on Jan. 20 next year, with a view to resuming commercial operations on Feb. 26.
The company also explained that it plans to also request the reactivation of reactor number 7, which shares some equipment with reactor 6.
The governor of Niigata Prefecture (central Japan), where the plant is located, met on Tuesday with Industry Minister Ryosei Akazawa and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, to convey his decision to allow the reactivation of reactor 6 of the complex.
According to the Kyodo agency, which cited sources privy to the subject, Governor Hideyo Hanazumi acknowledged to the president that many residents were still concerned about the reactivation of the plant.
Takaichi, for his part, assured him that her government would ensure that TEPCO reinforced safety at the complex.
Hanazumi also met with the head of Japanese nuclear regulator, Shuichi Kaneko, to ask him for improvements in the country’s nuclear safety, and sent a letter to TEPCO President Tomoaki Kobayakawa with the same message.
The Niigata Prefecture assembly on Monday approved the governor’s plan to reactivate the plant, after the national nuclear regulator gave its approval to start two of the complex’s seven reactors.
All seven units of the plant have been shut down since the 2011 atomic accident in Fukushima.
Reactors 6 and 7 passed overhauls for reactivation in 2017, but the plant was subsequently ordered to remain inoperative due to security issues.
In December 2023, the measures adopted were approved and since then the operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), has been carrying out the necessary steps to implement them.
At the beginning of the year, TEPCO announced the postponement until 2029 of the completion of the works necessary for the completion of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa reactivation.
If the reactor is operational, it will be the first at a plant operated by TEPCO, which managed the Fukushima plant before the disaster.
The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant is a key part of TEPCO’s energy supply plan and is in line with the Takaichi government’s strategy to push nuclear power to achieve its emission reduction targets. EFE
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