Tokyo: Japan has brought the world’s largest nuclear power station back online after a previous restart attempt was halted due to a minor technical fault, the plant’s operator said Monday.

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) confirmed that the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa facility in Niigata prefecture resumed operations at 2:00 pm (0500 GMT), marking its first successful restart effort since the 2011 Fukushima disaster. An earlier attempt on 21 January was suspended within a day when a monitoring system alarm was triggered.

Alarm glitch resolved

According to plant chief Takeyuki Inagaki, TEPCO had planned “to start up the reactor on February 9” following a review of the malfunction. The January shutdown stemmed from an incorrectly configured alarm that detected minor fluctuations in an electrical cable’s current – variations that were still considered safe.

The company has since adjusted the system’s settings, with Inagaki stressing the reactor poses no safety risk. Another full inspection will be carried out before commercial operations begin, expected on or after 18 March.

A symbolic restart amid Japan’s nuclear revival

The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa complex, which hosts seven reactors, is regarded as the world’s largest nuclear plant by potential capacity. However, only one unit is restarting for now. The plant had remained offline for more than a decade as Japan scaled back its nuclear fleet after the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami that triggered the Fukushima meltdowns.

With limited domestic energy resources, Japan is increasingly turning back to nuclear power to cut reliance on imported fossil fuels, meet its 2050 carbon-neutrality goal, and support rising electricity demand driven partly by artificial intelligence.

Conservative Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who pulled off a thumping election victory on Sunday, has promoted nuclear power to energise the Asian economic giant.

Local resistance remains strong

Despite government and industry support, public opinion around the Niigata plant remains sharply divided. A September survey by the prefectural government found around 60 percent of residents opposed the restart, while 37 percent supported it.

Opposition groups continue to raise concerns over the station’s seismic safety. In January, seven organisations submitted a petition with nearly 40,000 signatures to TEPCO and the Nuclear Regulation Authority, warning that the plant sits near an active fault line and recalling the strong earthquake that hit the area in 2007.

(With AFP inputs)