THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
April 15, 2024 at 17:18 JST
The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant that straddles the border between Kashiwazaki city and Kariwa village in Niigata Prefecture (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
KASHIWAZAKI, Niigata Prefecture--The Nuclear Regulation Authority gave the go-ahead on April 15 to loading nuclear fuel into a reactor at the long-idled Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant here.
The approval is an important step toward restarting the plant, which has remained offline for more than a decade.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. will start loading 872 fuel assemblies into the plant’s No. 7 reactor at around 4 p.m. The loading process is expected to take a couple of weeks to complete.
The reactor will then undergo a series of safety inspections before regulatory approval for a restart is granted.
In 2017, the reactor passed new safety regulatory standards mandated following the 2011 nuclear disaster at TEPCO’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
However, regulators suspended the restart process in 2021 due to deficiencies in the plant's anti-terrorism measures. The NRA eventually approved the plant's upgraded security measures in December last year.
Despite progress toward restarting the reactor, the governor of Niigata Prefecture has not yet granted his consent. Local communities remain divided, with ongoing debate and concerns regarding the plant.
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