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TEPCO restarts nuclear reactor for the first time since Fukushima

Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), after completing inspections, will restart a reactor on Wednesday at the?Kashiwazaki - Kariwa?nuclear plant. This is its first move of this kind since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011.

TEPCO announced that it would bring online the 1,36 gigawatt reactor (GW) No. 6 after 7 pm (1000 GMT). The reactor No. 6, which is one of seven in Kashiwazaki-Kariwa's nuclear power plant, can produce 8.2 GW at full capacity.

TEPCO investigated an alarm malfunction. TEPCO reported that the equipment was working normally as of early Wednesday morning.

Reactor No. Reactor No. Reactor No. Reactor No. 7 is expected to be brought on line around 2030, and others could be decommissioned.

After the 2011 meltdown of TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor, Japan's fleet of 54 reactors was shut down.

The Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has been pushing for new reactors to be built, particularly small modular reactors and new-generation reactors. Recently the government announced a new funding scheme in order to speed up the nuclear power revival.

After a setback in the offshore wind rollout, and the inflation pressure caused by fossil fuel imports to Japan, it is turning its attention back to nuclear energy to boost its energy security and to reduce its gas and coal purchases.

The restart of Kashiwazaki Kariwa, the first by TEPCO after the Fukushima catastrophe, is a test for the entire Japanese Nuclear Power Industry, since six other utilities including Chubu Electric Power Co are waiting for a decision on the potential restarts of their reactors.

Japan is also focusing on the developments as it seeks to increase cooperation with its closest ally the U.S. regarding new-generation reactors and SMRs. The global atomic industry, however, is dominated by China, and Russia.

The Japanese nuclear watchdog announced this month that it would order Chubu Electric?to provide a detailed, unbiased report on the falsified seismic data, and to pause?a review?of its application to restart Hamaoka - the utility's only atomic power plant - as public opinion remains divided about nuclear energy.

Commodity analysts from?Kpler predict that liquefied gas imports to Japan, which is one of the top two buyers in the world, will drop by 4,000,000 metric tons to 62,000,000 tons by 2026, compared to an earlier year, due to increased nuclear power availability. The commercial operation of Unit 6 is expected to begin early in the year. (Reporting and editing by Jamie Freed and Muralikumar Anantharaman; Thomas Derpinghaus and Thomas Derpinghaus).

(source: Reuters)