Japan is making progress in getting the go-ahead from local authorities to restart Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, the world’s largest nuclear power plant, located north of Tokyo.<\/p>\n\n
According to reports in Niigata Nippo, a Japanese newspaper, Ken Saito, the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, is expected to make a formal request next week to the governor of Niigata to authorize the operation of this nuclear power plant<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n Since the \n Fukushima accident<\/a>\n<\/strong> in 2011, Japan suspended the operation of its nuclear plants, subjecting them to strict safety reviews and procedures. Kashiwazaki-Kariwa has been inactive since 2012 and in 2021, the Nuclear Regulation Authority prevented Tepco, the company in charge, from operating due to failures in safety measures.<\/p>\n\n However, in December 2023, this operating restriction was lifted<\/strong>, representing a crucial step towards the plant’s resumption of operations, conditional on the approval of Niigata, the city of Kashiwazaki and the village of Kariwa. This move is part of a broader effort by Japan to reintroduce nuclear power into the \n nuclear power<\/a>\n<\/strong> as one of its main energy sources, in response to the recent global energy crisis and the resulting increase in fossil fuel prices.<\/p>\n\n Japan, a country with limited natural resources that imports approximately 90% of its energy needs<\/strong>, has drastically modified its nuclear policy by the end of 2022 after experiencing a significant increase in the cost of importing energy, especially liquefied natural gas (LNG), which reached unprecedented prices.<\/p>\n\n In December 2022, the Japanese government made official a new nuclear energy strategy, reversing the post-Fukushima trend away from this energy source. In addition, a committee of experts from the Ministry of Industry has decided to allow the construction of new nuclear reactors<\/strong> and to extend the useful life of existing ones beyond the established 60-year limit.<\/p>\n\n Importantly, the renewed strategy towards nuclear power, coupled with increased renewable energy generation and high natural gas inventories, has led to a significant reduction in Japan’s LNG imports, reaching the lowest levels in recent years.<\/p>\n\n This renewed focus on nuclear power in Japan highlights the urgency of addressing contemporary energy challenges and the need to balance safety with sustainability<\/strong>. The decision to reactivate Kashiwazaki-Kariwa and potentially develop new reactors underscores the complex dynamics between technological advancement, environmental management and energy security. As Japan embarks on this path, it also sets a precedent for other countries in the search for energy solutions that are both sustainable and safe.<\/p>\n\n Don’t miss any of our posts and follow us on social media!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Inspenet.com<\/a> YouTube<\/a> LinkedIn<\/a> Facebook<\/a> Instagram<\/a> X<\/a><\/p>\n\n Source: oilprice.com<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Photo: shutterstock<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is considered the largest nuclear power plant in the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8403,"featured_media":141128,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categoria_noticias":[13026,13044],"etiqueta_noticias":[],"class_list":["post-141137","noticias","type-noticias","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","categoria_noticias-energy","categoria_noticias-new-energies"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/noticias\/141137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/noticias"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/noticias"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8403"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/noticias\/141137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"categoria_noticias","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categoria_noticias?post=141137"},{"taxonomy":"etiqueta_noticias","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/etiqueta_noticias?post=141137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Reactivation of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant<\/h2>\n\n
Energy demand in Japan<\/h2>\n\n