Onagawa nuclear reactor to restart in Japan's 2011 disaster-hit region

Tokyo: A nuclear reactor at the Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant in Japan will resume operation on Tuesday, marking its first restart since the area was affected by the 2011 earthquake disaster, local media reported.

This will also mark the first boiling water reactor, the same type as the damaged Fukushima Daiichi reactors, to be reactivated since the disaster.

During the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, the Onagawa plant sustained significant damage, losing most of its external power supply and experiencing flooding in underground facilities.

The Onagawa reactor, operated by Tohoku Electric Power Co., cleared safety screening in February 2020 under tougher post-Fukushima crisis safety standards and gained local consent to resume operations, reports Xinhua, quoting Kyodo News.

The Tohoku Electric Power aims to begin generating and transmitting power at the plant in early November, with commercial operations expected to start around December.

The Japanese government has been pushing for reactor restarts to help secure energy in the resource-limited nation, though safety concerns about nuclear power persist among the public.

Beyond Onagawa, 12 other reactors across six power plants in central, western, and southwestern Japan have resumed operations after meeting stricter safety standards, according to the local media report.