TEPCO Pays £500m to Restart Plant, But Residents Fear 'Another Fukushima'

In a watershed moment for Japan's energy policy, the Niigata prefectural government has today cleared the final hurdle for the restart of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station, the world's largest nuclear facility.

The decision, expected to be formalised by Governor Hideyo Hanazumi this afternoon, paves the way for the reactors to go back online as early as January 2026. However, the approval comes against a backdrop of fierce local opposition and accusations that Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has effectively bought public consent with a controversial £500 million (¥100 billion) financial package.

A Controversial 'Revitalisation' Pledge

At the heart of the controversy is TEPCO's pledge to inject approximately £500 million into the Niigata prefecture over the next decade. While the utility giant frames the funding as a contribution to 'local economic revitalisation' and 'disaster prevention measures,' critics and local residents have branded the payment as little more than a corporate bribe designed to smooth over deep-seated safety concerns.

The payout is seen by analysts as a desperate bid by TEPCO to secure the revenue streams needed to cover the astronomical costs of the Fukushima Daiichi cleanup. 'It is money for silence,' said a representative from a local citizens' group protesting outside the prefectural assembly building this morning. 'They believe they can wash away the memory of Fukushima with yen, but safety cannot be bought.'

The Shadow of Fukushima

The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, capable of generating 8.2 gigawatts of electricity, has sat idle since around the time of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that triggered the triple meltdown at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi plant. For the residents of Niigata, the trauma of that disaster remains fresh.

A survey conducted by the prefectural government in October 2025 revealed that 60 per cent of residents believed the conditions for a restart had not been met, while nearly 70 per cent expressed unease at TEPCO being the operator responsible for their safety.

Ayako Oga, a 52-year-old farmer who fled the Fukushima exclusion zone in 2011 to settle in Niigata, described the restart as a recurring nightmare. 'Every news update about the restart is like reliving the fear,' she told reporters. 'We were told Fukushima was safe. Now they tell us Kashiwazaki is safe. The seawalls and the upgrades are just concrete; they cannot fix the lack of trust in the people running the control room.'

Energy Security vs. Public Trust

Despite the palpable public anxiety, the political and economic momentum behind the restart has been building for months. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who took office late last year, has aggressively championed the return to nuclear power as a cornerstone of national security. Japan currently relies heavily on imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) and coal, a dependency that has left the economy vulnerable to volatile global energy markets. The government estimates that bringing Kashiwazaki-Kariwa's Unit 6 and 7 reactors online could reduce electricity costs and improve power supply stability for the Tokyo metropolitan area by roughly 2 per cent.

TEPCO has invested an estimated ¥1.2 trillion (approx. £6 billion) in safety upgrades at the site, including the construction of a 15-metre high seawall and flood barriers designed to withstand tsunamis larger than those that struck in 2011. Spokesperson Masakatsu Takata emphasised the company's transformed culture in a statement released on Monday: "We remain firmly committed to never repeating such an accident and ensuring Niigata residents never experience anything similar."

The Path to January 2026

With the governor's consent secured, TEPCO is reportedly targeting January 20, 2026, to begin reactivating the first of the plant's seven reactors. This would mark the first time TEPCO has operated a nuclear reactor since the 2011 disaster.

The sheer scale of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa complex means its reintegration into the grid is a technically complex operation, monitored closely by the Nuclear Regulation Authority.

Yet, as engineers prepare the control rooms, the social rift in Niigata widens. The acceptance of the £500 million package may have legally cleared the path for TEPCO, but it has done little to repair the fractured relationship between the nuclear operator and the communities living in its shadow. For many, the seawalls may be higher, but the barrier of mistrust remains insurmountable.