TOKYO
\nThe restart of the world\u2019s largest nuclear power plant was suspended in Japan Thursday just hours after the process began, its operator said, but the reactor remained \u201cstable.\u201d
\nOperations to relaunch a reactor at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata province, closed since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, began late Wednesday after it received the final green light from the nuclear regulator despite divided public opinion.
\n\u201cAn alarm from the monitoring system… sounded during the reactor startup procedures, and operations are currently suspended,\u201d Takashi Kobayashi, a spokesperson for operator Tokyo Electric (TEPCO), told AFP.
\nThe reactor \u201cis stable and there is no radioactive impact outside,\u201d he said, adding that the operator is \u201ccurrently investigating the cause\u201d of the incident and is unable to say when operations will resume.
\nThe restart, initially scheduled for Tuesday, had been pushed back after a technical issue related to a reactor alarm was detected last weekend \u2014 a problem that was resolved on Sunday, according to TEPCO.
\nKashiwazaki-Kariwa is the world\u2019s biggest nuclear power plant by potential capacity, although just one reactor of seven was restarted.
\nThe facility was taken offline when Japan pulled the plug on nuclear power after a colossal earthquake and tsunami sent three reactors at the Fukushima atomic plant into meltdown in 2011.
\nHowever, resource-poor Japan now wants to revive atomic energy to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and meet growing energy needs from artificial intelligence.
\nKashiwazaki-Kariwa is the first TEPCO-run unit to restart since 2011. The company also operates the stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant, now being decommissioned.
\nPublic opinion in Niigata is deeply divided: Around 60 percent of residents oppose the restart, while 37 percent support it, according to a survey conducted in September.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s Tokyo\u2019s electricity that is produced in Kashiwazaki, so why should the people here be put at risk? That makes no sense,\u201d Yumiko Abe, a 73-year-old resident, told AFP this week during a protest in front of the plant.
\nEarlier this month, seven groups opposing the restart submitted a petition signed by nearly 40,000 people to TEPCO and Japan\u2019s Nuclear Regulation Authority, saying that the plant sits on an active seismic fault zone and noted it was struck by a strong quake in 2007.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TOKYO The restart of the world\u2019s largest nuclear power plant was suspended in Japan Thursday just hours after the process began, its operator said, but the reactor remained \u201cstable.\u201d Operations to relaunch a reactor at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata province, closed since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, began late Wednesday after it received the final […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527131,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-527118","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n