Business & Economics
Niigata Assembly Vote Clears Path for Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Restart
On 22 December 2025, Niigata’s legislature backed Governor Hideyo Hanazumi, removing the last local veto on re-activating TEPCO’s 8.2 GW Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant idled since Fukushima.
Focusing Facts
- TEPCO plans to bring Unit 6 (1.36 GW) online around 20 January 2026, its first reactor restart since the 11 March 2011 disaster.
- The plant’s full capacity of 8.2 GW—world’s largest—would lift Tokyo-area power supply by an estimated 2 percent per reactor restarted.
- TEPCO has committed ¥100 billion (≈US$640 million) over 10 years to local economic projects to rebuild trust.
Context
Japan’s pivot recalls the 1974 oil-shock decision to triple nuclear capacity—energy security panic tends to trump safety qualms until the next accident (see also France’s 1973–1990 Messmer Plan). Unlike Germany’s 2023 total exit, Tokyo is threading a third way: tighter post-Fukushima regulation plus selective mega-plant revivals to halve fossil-fuel imports and power AI-driven demand spikes. If successful, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa could mark the first large-scale comeback of a disgraced operator since the U.S. restarted Three Mile Island’s undamaged Unit 1 in 1985, signaling that corporate stigma fades faster than radioactive isotopes. Over a 100-year arc, the decision tests whether advanced economies can sustain high-density, low-carbon baseload without slipping into cyclical amnesia—each restart inches humanity toward either a resilient nuclear renaissance or the next Chernobyl-style inflection point.
Perspectives
Business-oriented Asian media
e.g., The Straits Times, WION — Frame the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa restart as a strategic win for Japan’s energy security and decarbonisation goals, presenting TEPCO’s safety upgrades as evidence that lessons from Fukushima have been learned. Economic-growth angle can lead them to underplay remaining safety doubts and local opposition in order to normalise nuclear expansion that benefits utilities and industry.
Public-interest and progressive outlets
e.g., The Independent, The Whistler Nigeria — Highlight persistent public scepticism, protests and trauma from Fukushima, casting the restart as politically driven and potentially risky for nearby communities. By foregrounding activist voices and worst-case scenarios they may amplify fear and distrust of nuclear power while giving less space to arguments about climate targets or rising fuel costs.
Global business press aimed at investors
e.g., Businessday NG, BusinessWorld — Treat the approval mainly as a market-relevant milestone signalling Japan’s renewed commitment to nuclear energy and lower fuel import bills, useful context for energy and commodity markets. Market-first perspective can push a transactional narrative that reduces the complex social and environmental stakes to figures on import costs and gigawatts, sidelining local concerns.