Japan prepares to restart world's largest nuclear plant, 15 years after Fukushima

NIIGATA, Japan — A Japanese regional assembly backed a plan on Monday to restart the world's biggest nuclear plant nearly 15 years after the Fukushima disaster, taking it a step closer to resumption.

The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa facility, located about 220 kilometers northwest of Tokyo, was among 54 reactors shut after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

Since then, Japan has restarted 14 of the 33 that remain operable, as it tries to wean itself off imported fossil fuels. Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant will be the first operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company, 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 for the plant to begin operations again.

"This is a milestone, but this is not the end," Hanazumi told reporters after the vote. "There is no end in terms of ensuring the safety of Niigata residents."

While lawmakers voted in support of Hanazumi, the assembly session exposed the community's divisions over the restart.

"This is nothing other than a political settlement that does not take into account the will of the Niigata residents," an assembly member opposed to the restart told fellow lawmakers as the vote was about to begin.

Voicing opposition

Outside, around 300 protesters stood in the cold, holding banners reading "No Nukes" and "We oppose the restart of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa".

"I am truly angry from the bottom of my heart," Kenichiro Ishiyama, a 77-year-old protester from Niigata city, told Reuters after the vote. "If something was to happen at the plant, we would be the ones to suffer the consequences."

Tokyo Electric Power Company is considering reactivating the first of seven reactors at the plant on Jan 20, public broadcaster NHK reported.

The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa facility's total capacity is 8.2 gigawatts, enough to power a few million homes. The pending restart would bring one 1.36 GW unit online next year and start another one with the same capacity around 2030.

A survey published by the Niigata Prefecture in October found that 60 percent of residents did not think conditions for the restart had been met. Nearly 70 percent were worried about Tokyo Electric Power Company operating the plant.

Ayako Oga, 52, settled in Niigata after fleeing the area around the Fukushima plant in 2011 with 160,000 other evacuees. Her old home was inside the 20 km irradiated exclusion zone.

The farmer and antinuclear activist has joined the Niigata protests.

"We know firsthand the risk of a nuclear accident and cannot dismiss it," Oga said, adding that she still struggles with post-traumatic stress-like symptoms from what happened at Fukushima.

Agencies - Xinhua