Although there was an attempt to restart the reactor on January 21, the reactor was shut down the next day after an alarm was raised by the monitoring system.
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Japan is set to restart the world's largest nuclear power plant next week, after it was shut down following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.
The plant was previously temporarily suspended after an alarm-related malfunction was detected during an attempt to restart it.
Takeyuki Inagaki, head of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant run by Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), held a press conference on Friday and announced that the reactor is scheduled to start up on February 9.
Tepco restarted the reactor on January 21. However, the reactor was shut down the next day after an alarm was raised by the monitoring system.
According to Inagaki, the alarm indicated a change in electrical current in a cable due to a configuration error. He clarified that the changes were within the safe range and did not pose a safety risk.
Inagaki said the company changed the alarm settings after concluding that the reactor was safe to operate. According to him, a comprehensive inspection will be carried out in the next phase and commercial operation is targeted for March 18 or later.
The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant is the world's largest nuclear power plant by potential generating capacity. However, only one of its seven reactors is currently being restarted.
Japan shut down most of its nuclear power plants after three reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant melted down in a powerful earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Kashiwazaki-Kariwa has also been shut down for a long time.
Japan, which has limited energy resources, is looking to revive nuclear power with the goal of reducing its dependence on fossil fuels, achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, and meeting growing energy demand as artificial intelligence (AI) expands.
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is the first nuclear unit to be commissioned by Tepco since 2011. Tepco also operated the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which is currently in the process of being phased out.
Residents around the plant appear divided on the issue. A September survey by Niigata Prefecture found that about 60 percent of residents opposed the restart, while 37 percent supported it.
In January, seven groups opposing the restart collected nearly 40,000 signatures and submitted a petition to Tepco and Japan's Nuclear Regulatory Authority. They raised safety concerns, pointing to the fact that the plant is located on an active seismic fault zone and was hit by a powerful earthquake in 2007.
