Japan plans to reactivate the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant’s No. 6 reactor on February 9, marking Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO)’s first post-2011 Fukushima restart after a brief shutdown from an alarm malfunction.
Japan
Plant chief Takeyuki Inagaki announced Friday that the facility, offline since the Fukushima disaster, resumed briefly on January 21 but halted the next day due to a misconfigured monitoring alarm triggered by safe electrical fluctuations. “The firm has now changed the alarm’s settings as the reactor is safe to operate,” Inagaki stated, with commercial operations slated for March 18 after inspections.
The world’s largest nuclear plant by capacity—among its seven reactors—supports Japan’s push for nuclear revival to cut fossil fuels, hit 2050 carbon neutrality, and power AI-driven demand. Only Unit 6 restarts initially.
Local opposition persists, with Niigata’s September survey showing 60 percent against amid seismic fears; a January petition gathered 40,000 signatures citing the site’s active fault and 2007 quake history.
Ravenewsonline reports global watch on this energy milestone.
