Niigata Gov. Hideyo Hanazumi on Friday approved a partial resumption of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, paving the way for one of the reactors to be brought back online.
The governor’s approval had been one of the final — and crucial — hurdles for Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings (Tepco), the operator of the plant, to bring it back into operation since it was taken offline after the March 2011 earthquake-triggered tsunami knocked out electricity at Tepco’s No. 1 plant in Fukushima Prefecture and caused a triple meltdown.
The resumption of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant’s No. 6 reactor would be a major development for Japan as it aims to re-embrace nuclear power and reduce fossil fuel energy, which it has been heavily dependent on since the 2011 meltdowns.
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