Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s invitation to the world's top nuclear agency to review the safety of its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa facility signals the utility's desire to win international backing to resume operations at the world's largest atomic power plant.
Kashiwazaki is Tepco's best bet of returning to nuclear power generation, after the plant was shuttered along with the rest of Japan's nuclear capacity following the unprecedented meltdowns at the company's Fukushima No. 1 plant in 2011.
Firing up its reactors would boost Tepco's profit by as much as ¥32 billion a month, according to Tepco spokesman Tatsuhiro Yamagishi.