Niigata: Japan is preparing to restart the world's largest nuclear power plant after the local legislature voted to give a vote of confidence to the Niigata Prefecture governor, who supported the restart of the plant. The Niigata Prefectural Assembly voted today to give a vote of confidence to Governor Hideyo Hanazumi, effectively approving his November statement supporting the restart of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant. Following the vote, Hanazumi stated that it was a victory, but not the end of ensuring the safety of Niigata residents. Meanwhile, outside the assembly, approximately 300 protesters gathered in the cold, holding signs opposing the restart of the nuclear power plant. One 77-year-old protester said that if anything happened to the nuclear plant, they would be the ones to bear the consequences.
According to Thai News Agency, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant is located 220 kilometers northwest of Tokyo. It houses several of the 54 nuclear reactors that Japan shut down nationwide in 2011 following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident, the world's worst nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl accident in the former Soviet Union in 1986. Japan subsequently restarted 14 of its remaining operational reactors in an effort to reduce its reliance on imported fossil fuels.