- Minister will ask Niigata’s governor for approval: report
- Tepco’s stock surged as potential restart would help cut costs
Japan’s government is ramping up an effort to secure local approval to resume operations at the world’s biggest nuclear power plant, according to a report, amid a wider push by the nation to restart its idled fleet of reactors.
Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Ken Saito will next week request Niigata Governor Hideyo Hanazumi to endorse the restart of Tokyo Electric Power Co’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station, according to the Niigata Nippo newspaper. METI didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The governor’s approval is one of the last hurdles before the nuclear plant can resume.
Tepco stock surged as much as 11% on Friday to the highest since 2011. Restarting reactors at the plant will help Tepco reduce dependence on imports of costlier fossil fuels.
Resuming the facility would be a shot in the arm for Japan’s government, which is struggling to boost atomic generation in the face of strict regulations and patchy local support. The Nuclear Regulation Authority in December removed a de-facto ban on operations of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa that was put in place after a slew of serious security breaches.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency this week said that the organization would provide technical assistance for the plant, and send a team of experts to assist Tepco’s effort to gain public trust.
Kashiwazaki Kariwa, which has seven reactors totaling 8.2 gigawatts in capacity, is located about 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Tokyo. The nation’s regulator said in 2017 that reactor units 6 and 7 met post-Fukushima safety protocols.
Source: Bloomberg