Security breaches eliminated?
Japan lifts operating ban on world’s largest nuclear power plant
December 27, 2023, 1:16 p.m
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Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is the world’s largest nuclear power plant. After the Fukushima disaster, like many others, it is shut down, but could now come back online. But the approval of local authorities appears to be in doubt after a series of security breaches.
The Japanese government has lifted the operating ban on the world’s largest nuclear power plant, thereby removing a hurdle to its commissioning. The safety system at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) has been improved, said the responsible nuclear regulatory authority NRA. This means that uranium rods can be delivered again and introduced into the seven reactors of the plant on the Sea of Japan.
This puts the ball in the court of the municipalities, who have to give the green light. However, it is unclear when and whether this will even be the case. TEPCO said the company is working to gain the trust of local authorities.
The plant, with a capacity of 8.2 gigawatts, has been completely offline since 2012, when all nuclear power plants had to be shut down a year after the Fukushima disaster. In 2021, the NRA banned TEPCO from restarting after repeated serious violations of the regulations on protection against terrorism were found: TEPCO admitted that the plant was so poorly secured in a total of 16 places that unauthorized persons could have easily entered the nuclear power plant site can. NRA inspectors also discovered that TEPCO had attempted to cover up the deficiencies.
Covered up mishaps
Violations of regulations had already occurred regularly at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant. Power plant unit 6 had to be temporarily shut down in 2000 after 300-fold increased iodine levels were measured in the cooling circuit. Two years later, it emerged that TEPCO had been falsifying safety reports and delaying inspections to save money for 16 years. In the years that followed, deficiencies were repeatedly identified.
Restarting the nuclear power plant is a central part of TEPCO’s plan to restart operation of its reactor fleet following the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Of the 54 reactors in Japan, 33 are still considered operational. In fact, only ten reactors are currently in operation.