Japan suspends restart of world’s largest nuclear plant hours after it began

South China Morning PostCenter-RightEN 1 min read 100% complete by Agence France-PresseJanuary 22, 2026 at 12:19 PM

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Japan suspended the restart of a reactor at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata province, the world's largest, just hours after operations began on Thursday. The plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), had been closed since the 2011 Fukushima disaster but recently received regulatory approval to restart. An alarm from the monitoring system triggered the suspension during the reactor start-up procedures. Tepco is investigating the malfunctioning electrical equipment and decided to reinsert the control rods to halt the chain reaction in a planned manner. The operator assures that the reactor remains stable and there is no radioactive impact outside the plant.

Key Entities & Roles

Key Player Opposition Context

Takashi Kobayashi 60% Niigata province 70% Fukushima disaster 70% Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant ×280% Japan 90% Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) ×290%

Keywords

nuclear power plant 100% reactor restart 90% suspension 80% kashiwazaki-kariwa 70% tepco 60% control rods 50% fukushima disaster 50% nuclear regulator 40%