Japan backs world’s largest nuclear plant restart despite pushback from residents
Tepco, operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant, has been allowed to restart Kashiwazaki-Kariwa 15 years after the disaster
Since then, Japan has restarted 14 of the 33 that remain operable, as it tries to wean itself off imported fossil fuels.
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa will be the first operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco), which ran the doomed Fukushima plant.
On Monday, Niigata prefecture’s assembly passed a vote of confidence on Niigata Governor Hideyo Hanazumi, who backed the restart last month, effectively allowing the plant to begin operations again.
While lawmakers voted in support of Hanazumi, the assembly session, the last for the year, exposed the community’s divisions over the restart, despite new jobs and potentially lower electricity bills.