Japan has taken a major step in its nuclear recovery by restarting a reactor at the world’s largest nuclear power plant for the first time since the Fukushima disaster in 2011.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) has brought Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant’s unit 6 reactor back online, with commercial operation scheduled to begin in March. The reactor has a capacity of about 1,360MW and is the first Tepco-operated unit to come online since the Fukushima disaster, which saw all Japan’s nuclear plants shut down pending regulatory change.
The disaster occurred when a massive earthquake and resulting tsunami wrecked the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant beyond repair. The meltdown was considered the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, Ukraine, in April 1986. Tepco is engaged in a decades-long effort to decommission the destroyed plant.
According to World Nuclear News, Japan’s 54 reactors provided around 30% of the country’s electricity before the Fukushima disaster. Within...