15 years after Fukushima, Japan prepares to restart the world’s biggest nuclear plant | Japan

TActivities around the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant are reaching their peak: Workers are removing soil to widen the width of the main road, while trucks are arriving at the plant’s heavily guarded entrance. A tall perimeter fence is lined with countless coils of barbed wire, and a police patrol car watches visitors to the beach, one of the few places where the reactors are clearly visible, framed by snowy Yoneyama Mountain.

When all seven reactors are operating, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa produces 8.2 gigawatts of electricity, enough to power millions of households. It is the world’s largest nuclear power plant, covering an area of ​​4.2 square kilometers in Niigata prefecture on the Sea of ​​Japan.

But the plant has not produced a single watt of electricity since 2012 after being shut down along with dozens of other reactors following the triple meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi in March 2011, the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, about 220 km (136 miles) northwest of Tokyo, is managed by Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), which was responsible for the Fukushima plant when a powerful tsunami broke through its defenses and triggered a power outage that sent its three reactors into meltdown and forced the evacuation of 160,000 people.

Weeks before the 15th anniversary of the accident and the broader tsunami disaster that killed nearly 20,000 people on Japan’s northeastern coast, Tepco is preparing to restart one of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa’s seven reactors, possibly on Tuesday, in defiance of local opinion.

The restart of reactor No. 6, which could increase electricity supplies to the Tokyo area by about 2%, would be a milestone in Japan’s slow return to nuclear power, and the government says the strategy will help the country meet emissions targets and strengthen energy security.

But for many of the 420,000 people living within a 30 km (19 mi) radius of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa who would be forced to evacuate in the event of a Fukushima-style event, Tepco’s imminent return to nuclear power generation is fraught with danger.

Among them is Ryusuke Yoshida, whose home is less than a mile and a half from the factory in the sleepy village of Kariwa. When asked what worries him most about the restart, the 76-year-old has a simple answer. “Everything,” he says as waves crash on the shore, reactors looming in the background.

“Evacuation plans are clearly ineffective,” adds Yoshida, a potter and member of an association of people living closest to the facility. “When it snows in the winter, the roads are closed and many people living here are elderly. What about them and other people who cannot move freely? This is a human rights issue.”

The utility company said it had learned lessons from the Fukushima Daiichi crash and earlier this year pledged to invest 100 billion yen (£470 million) over the next 10 years in a bid to win over residents of Niigata prefecture.

The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, which retained 6,000 staff throughout the extended closure, has seawalls and watertight doors to provide stronger protection against tsunamis, while mobile diesel-powered generators and a large fleet of fire trucks are ready to provide water to cool the reactors in case of emergency. Upgraded filtration systems were installed to control the spread of radioactive materials.

“The essence of the nuclear power business is to ensure safety above all else, and the understanding of local residents is a prerequisite,” says Tepco spokesman Tatsuya Matoba.

That’s the only hurdle Tepco has failed to overcome, residents say, after local officials ignored calls for a statewide referendum to determine the plant’s future. In the absence of a vote, anti-restart campaigners point to polls that show they are clearly opposed to restarting the reactor.

These include a state government survey conducted late last year in which more than 60% of people living within 30km of the plant said they did not believe the conditions for its restart had been met.

“We take the results of the prefectural public opinion survey very seriously,” Matoba adds. “Gaining the understanding and trust of local people is a never-ending, ongoing process that requires sincerity and constant effort.”

Kariwa village council member Kazuyuki Takemoto says seismic activity in this part of northwestern Japan means it is impossible to guarantee the safety of the facility.

“But there has been no proper discussion about this issue,” says Takemoto, 76. “They say there have been improvements in safety since the Fukushima disaster, but I don’t think there is a valid reason to restart the reactor. It’s beyond my understanding.”

‘The priority should be to protect people’s lives’

Just weeks before the planned restart, the nuclear industry came under fresh criticism after it was revealed that Chubu Electric Power, a utility in central Japan, had invested in the nuclear power plant. fake seismic risk data during a regulatory review ahead of the possible restart of two reactors at the idled Hamaoka plant.

“When you look at what’s happening in Hamaoka, do you really think it’s possible to trust Japan’s nuclear industry?” Takemoto says. “It used to be said that nuclear energy was necessary, safe and cheap… Now we know that this is an illusion.”

Adding to the local concerns is the presence of seismic faults in and around the site; These faults were damaged during the 6.8 magnitude offshore earthquake of July 2007, including a fire at a transformer. The three reactors operating at the time automatically shut down.

The restart of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is a gamble for Japan’s government, which has put an ambitious return to nuclear power generation at the center of its new energy policy as it strives to meet emissions targets and strengthen energy security.

Before the Fukushima disaster, 54 reactors were in operation, providing about 30% of the country’s electricity. Only 14 of the 33 currently operating reactors are in service, while attempts to restart the others have met with strong local opposition.

Now, 15 years after the Fukushima meltdown, criticism of the country’s “nuclear village” of operators, regulators and politicians has shifted to this snowy seaside town.

Pointing to one of the many security cameras near the facility, Yoshida says the restart is being imposed on residents by the nuclear industry and its political allies. “Local authorities have retreated in the face of intense pressure from the central government,” he says.

“Every government’s priority should be to protect people’s lives, but we feel we have been deceived. Japan’s nuclear village is alive and well. You only have to look at what’s going on here to know that.”