Reactor restarted at world's largest nuclear power plant

According to the Financial Post, Japanese energy company Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) has restarted one of the reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, which is the largest nuclear facility in the world.

Reactor No. 6 began the restart process on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. local time. The company plans to gradually increase its output with the aim of starting commercial operation on March 18.

The reactor was restarted for the first time since the Fukushima disaster fifteen years ago on January 21, but a day later, the company had to interrupt the process due to an electrical failure in the control panel used to control and monitor the control rods.

A subsequent investigation showed that the problem was related to an incorrect interpretation of the motor's electrical current in the control system.

Power plant director Takeyuki Inagaki noted that the decision to suspend operations was necessary in order to thoroughly investigate the situation and emphasized a cautious approach to restarting.

Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is currently Tepco's only operational nuclear facility. Reactor No. 6 is the first of seven units at the site to be restarted. Reactor No. 7 has already received approval from the national nuclear regulator to resume operation.

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