Japan set to restart top nuclear plant

Would be first since Fukushima accident

- MATHIAS CENA KYOKO HASEGAWA

A Tokyo Electric Power employee opens a watertight door at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station in Japan's Niigata prefecture.

(AFP)

The world’s biggest nuclear power plant was set to restart yesterday for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, its Japanese operator said, despite persistent safety concerns among residents.

The governor of Niigata prefecture, where the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant is located, approved its resumption last month, although public opinion remains sharply divided.

After receiving the final green light yesterday, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) said they were “proceeding with preparations... and plan to remove the control rods after 7:00 pm today and start up the reactor”.

On Tuesday, a few dozen protesters — mostly elderly — braved freezing temperatures to demonstrate in the snow near the plant's entrance, whose buildings line the Sea of Japan coast.

“It's Tokyo's electricity that is produced in Kashiwazaki, so why should the people here be put at risk? That makes no sense,” Yumiko Abe, a 73-year-old resident, told AFP.

Around 60% of residents oppose the restart, while 37% supportit, according to a survey conducted in September.