TOKYO: The governor of Japan’s Hokkaido prefecture said on Wednesday he has approved the restart of Hokkaido Electric Power’s Tomari nuclear power plant in northern Japan.
Naomichi Suzuki announced his consent at a live-streamed prefectural assembly.
The local consent was the last major step for restarting the 912-megawatt No.3 reactor, which has been offline since 2012 amid Japan’s broader push to strengthen nuclear safety following the Fukushima Daiichi disaster.
Hokkaido Electric plans to complete construction of a seawall by March 2027 and aims to restart the reactor as soon as possible thereafter. The approval comes just weeks after another regional governor gave the green light for a partial restart of Tokyo Electric Power’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant.
Reuters
AloJapan.com