Japan suspends world’s largest nuclear power plant hours after restarting

The operator of the world’s largest nuclear power plant said Japan suspended operations at the plant hours after restarting it.

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) spokesman Takashi Kobayashi said an alarm sounded in the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa area northwest of Tokyo “during the reactor start-up process” but the reactor remained “stable”.

Reactor No. 6 Restart on Wednesday The plant was started a day later than planned due to an alarm malfunction – its first startup since the 2011 Fukushima disaster.

Fifteen years ago, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant and Japan shut down all 54 reactors, causing one of the worst nuclear disasters in history.

At that time, radiation leaks from the nuclear power plant forced more than 150,000 people to evacuate their homes. Despite assurances that it is now safe, many have yet to return.

After the No. 6 reactor was suspended on Thursday, Kobayashi said the reactor was “stable and there were no external radioactive impacts.”

The reactor was initially scheduled to start up on Tuesday but was delayed due to technical issues. It will begin commercial operations next month.

Kobayashi said Tepco was “currently investigating the cause of the incident” but did not say when operations would resume.

The seventh reactor at Kashiwazaki Kariwa is not expected to restart until 2030, while the other five reactors may be decommissioned.

That would leave the plant with far less capacity than it would have if all seven reactors were operational.

Reactor No. 6 has been given the green light to restart despite safety concerns from local residents.

A small group gathered in protest outside TEPCO headquarters last week, while hundreds gathered outside the Niigata Prefectural Assembly in December.

Japan was an early adopter of nuclear power – before 2011, nuclear power accounted for nearly 30% of its electricity, and the country plans to increase this to 50% by 2030.

The company has been trying to revive them for the past decade as part of its goal to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, after being forced to close all its plants following the Fukushima disaster.

Since 2015, Japan has restarted 15 of its 33 operational reactors.

An earlier version of the report said the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant was located in Tokyo, but this has been corrected to say it is northwest of Tokyo.