Tokyo Electric Power Company restarted its No. 6 reactor at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture on Wednesday evening. This marks TEPCO's first reactor restart since the 2011 Fukushima accident, though local residents remain divided. Commercial operations are slated for February 26.
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO) restarted the No. 6 reactor at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station in Niigata Prefecture on the evening of January 22, 2026. The reactor, with an output of about 1.36 million kilowatts, represents TEPCO's first restart since the 2011 accident at its Fukushima No. 1 plant and the 15th reactor to resume operations in Japan overall.
Originally scheduled for Tuesday, the restart was delayed to inspect a warning system for control rods after a setting error on Saturday prevented an alarm from sounding. TEPCO completed the inspection early Wednesday, made final adjustments, and obtained approval from the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) before withdrawing the control rods. The reactor was expected to achieve criticality—a stable nuclear fission state—in about two hours.
TEPCO plans to begin trial power generation as early as later this month, testing equipment powered by reactor steam and gradually increasing output. Given that the reactor has been offline since March 2012—nearly 14 years—TEPCO will temporarily shut it down for irregularity checks. If no issues arise, commercial operations will start on February 26 following final NRA confirmation.
The No. 6 unit is an advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR), deemed safer than the boiling water reactors (BWRs) at Fukushima. Post-2013 regulatory standards, informed by the Fukushima disaster, mandate enhanced earthquake and tsunami defenses, including a 15-meter seawall, hydrogen explosion prevention devices, and multiple backup power sources.
Local reactions are mixed. Civic groups opposing the restart protested in front of TEPCO's Niigata office. However, a man in his 60s running a ryokan in Kashiwazaki said, "I think it's a waste not to use it," adding, "Our predecessors brought (the nuclear plant) here, so we have no choice but to continue it."
