Japan resumed operations at the world’s largest nuclear power plant this week,marking a key development in the country’s return to nuclear energy almost 15 years after the Fukushima disaster.
The reactor is located at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant, in Japan’s Niigata Prefecture.
It is the world’s first nuclear power plant to use an advanced boiling water reactor.
Panoramic view of units 5-7 of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant.
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa’stotal capacity is 8.2 GW, which is enough to power a few million homes.
The site is operated by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which also ran the Fukushima plant.
While the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa facility was not damaged by the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, all seven of its reactors have remained offline since the accident amid tightened safety requirements and public scrutiny.
We noted back in December, Niigata prefecture’s assembly session vote revealed thecommunity’s deep divisions over the restart,in spite of lawmakers giving their backing to Hanazumi.
“This is nothing other than a political settlement that does not take into account the will of the Niigata residents,” an assembly member told fellow lawmakers during the session.
Around 300 protesters gathered outside the assembly holding billboards with signs expressing their opposition to the resumption in operations, such as “No Nukes” and “Support Fukushima.”
Source: ZeroHedge News
