Monthly Report

TEPCO and national government continue working toward restarting Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant

July 17, 2024
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is the world’s largest nuclear power plant by net rated capacity. (Image: Kashiwazaki City)

On July 15, 2024, the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (ANRE), which is part of Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, held a session to explain the importance of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant to the country’s energy policy and the safety measures that were being introduced to residents of Niigata, the prefecture in which the power plant is located, ahead of Unit 7’s planned restart.

A few days earlier, on July 11, 2024, TEPCO Holdings, the power plant’s operator, submitted its third “Amendment to the Application for Approval of the Design and Construction Plan” for the plant’s Unit 6 to the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA). The company first submitted its application in September 2013. It then amended it in September 2023 and May 2024. The third amendment combines the previous two with additional revisions based on NRA’s feedback.

At the explanatory session, ANRE explained that restarting just one of the power plant’s units would improve reserve margin in the Tokyo TSO area by 2.4%. That said, some residents continued to express concern about potential risks associated with natural disasters.

In preparation for the power plant’s restart, TEPCO loaded fuel into Unit 7 in April 2024.

With seven reactors totaling 7.965GW, none currently operating, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is the world’s largest nuclear power plant by net rated capacity. Both Unit 6 and Unit 7 are 1.315GW advanced boiling water reactors supplied by Hitachi, Toshiba, and GE. While the former commissioned in November 1996, the latter did so in July 1997.

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