JAPAN PLANS HISTORIC NUCLEAR RESTART

Japan took the final step to allow the world’s largest nuclear power plant to resume operations with a regional vote Monday, a watershed moment in the country’s return to nuclear energy nearly 15 years after the Fukushima disaster.

- REUTERS

Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, located about 220 km (136 miles) northwest of Tokyo, was among 54 reactors shut after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi 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 will be the first operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO).

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, Monday.