The Japanese Governor is set to approve the restart of the world's largest nuclear plant

Kyodo reported that the Japanese governor who oversees the region which is home to the largest nuclear power station in the world is expected to approve its restart this week.

The approval is one of the last remaining milestones for Tokyo Electric Power Co to bring back the Kashiwazaki/Kariwa power plant, which was shut down more than 10 years ago after the Fukushima disaster.

Kyodo reported that Niigata Prefecture governor Hideyo Hanadazumi will announce his approval for a partial resumption of Kashiwazaki - Kariwa by Friday. This was based on multiple sources unnamed in the prefecture's government.

TEPCO plans to bring the two largest units of the plant online, No. TEPCO plans to bring online the two biggest units of the plant, No. 7 can produce together 2,710 Megawatts and decommission the five remaining units. The total capacity of Kashiwazaki - Kariwa is 8,212MW.

TEPCO completed its checks on reactor No. 6 in October. TEPCO said that it completed checks on reactor No. 6 in October after fuel loading.

The company also pledged to give local communities 100 billion yen (644 million dollars) in support of the restart that TEPCO has been seeking for years, despite some opposition from locals.

The restart will be in line the new Prime Minister Sanae Takayi's

to support more nuclear

Starts

Strengthening energy security.

The partial restoration of the Kashiwazaki - Kariwa plant will also reduce the costs of importing liquefied gas for Japan. Japan is the second largest LNG importer in the world after China.

Japan restarted 11 nuclear reactors, with a combined capacity of 10,647MW as of the end October. Japan's utilities had operated 54 reactors before the Fukushima catastrophe. TEPCO

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The reactor meltdown of 2011 led to a large compensation payout.

(source: Reuters)