Japan prepares to restart world's biggest nuclear plant, 15 years after Fukushima

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO)'s Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power plant, one of the world's largest nuclear facilities, stands along the seaside in Kashiwazaki, Niigata prefecture, Japan December 21, 2025.REUTERS/Issei Kato

NIIGATA, Japan, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Japan took the ‌final step to allow the world's largest nuclear power plant to resume operations with a regional vote on Monday, a watershed moment in the country's return to nuclear energy nearly 15 years after ‌the Fukushima disaster.

Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, located about 220 km (136 miles) northwest of Tokyo, was among 54 reactors shut after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi plant in the worst nuclear ‌disaster since Chernobyl.