Lawmakers in Japan's Niigata Prefecture have approved a request from the operator of the world's largest nuclear power plant to resume operations, overriding the concerns of local residents and anti-nuclear campaigners.
The prefectural assembly voted on Monday to permit Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) to restart the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, on the north coast of Japan and about 220 kilometers (136 miles) northwest of the capital Tokyo.
TEPCO has indicated that it will restart one of the seven reactors at the plant as soon as January 20.
Japan ordered the shutdown of all 54 nuclear power stations across the country in the immediate aftermath of the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in March 2011.
Three of the six reactors at the plant suffered catastrophic breaches at the time after being hit by a powerful earthquake and tsunami, releasing huge amounts of radiation into the atmosphere.
Since then, Japan has restarted 14 of the country's 33 reactors that remain operationally viable, while 21 older units are being decommissioned.
The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, however, will be the first TEPCO facility to restart.
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The company has emphasized in statements that it has "learned the lessons of Fukushima" and that safety upgrades have been verified in multiple inspections, with new sea defenses and watertight internal doors as well as improved filtration systems and a greater emergency response team.
Yet, many remain worried, not least because Japan remains one of the most seismically active and earthquake-prone nations in the world.
"To me, today is pre-Fukushima deja vu," said Aileen Mioko Smith, an environmental campaigner with Kyoto-based Green Action Japan.
Even though the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant was not impacted by the magnitude-9 quake and tsunami that caused such destruction at Fukushima, she pointed out that Kashiwazaki-Kariwa has been badly shaken in previous natural disasters.
"In July 2007, when the Chuetsu-oki earthquake shook the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant and the image of black smoke rising from this world's largest nuclear power plant startled the world, local people who had opposed building this plant since the 1970s because of serious seismic concerns warned of imminent disaster somewhere in Japan," Smith told DW.
"Media reporting on the incident ignored local people's warnings and, three-and-a-half years later, an earthquake and tsunami struck the Fukushima plant," she added. "Will the people's warning be ignored yet again?"
Critics also point to a survey conducted by the prefecture that found that 60% of local residents said "conditions are not right for restarting" the reactors.
"There is strong distrust among residents of the prefecture and the Japanese public in general towards TEPCO, which they hold responsible for the Fukushima disaster," said Takeshi Sakagami, of the Citizens' Association for Monitoring Nuclear Regulation.
Despite the assurances of the operator and the local government, Sakagami has a number of concerns, from lax internal security to fears that any disaster management plan will be inadequate in the event of another major earthquake.
He said problems have been detected in the control rods in Unit 6 at the plant and that no explanations for the fault have been forthcoming.
"Also, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa area gets heavy snowfall, raising fears that snow could prevent evacuation in the event of a disaster," he added. "If heavy snow coincides with a nuclear accident, residents could face severe radiation exposure. I believe the countermeasures are insufficient."
Before the Fukushima disaster, nuclear reactors were delivering around 30% of Japan's electricity. With the shutdown of reactors in 2011, there was no choice but to return to imports of fossil fuels, primarily coal and gas, which now provide up to 70% of the nation's energy needs.
After the initial shock of events at Fukushima — where vast areas of land remain off-limits — the government has returned to promoting nuclear energy.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is a strong supporter of a more widespread resumption of reactors to reduce the amount that has to be spent on energy imports and meet commitments on carbon emissions.
The government aims to increase the share of nuclear energy in the overall power supply from below 10% at present to 20% by 2040.
Restarting the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant is critical to TEPCO's fortunes and the company estimates resuming output will earn it around 100 billion yen (€544.6 million) a year, much of which will have to be spent on decommissioning the Fukushima plant and continuing the clean-up of the surrounding areas.
And while there is undoubtedly resistance to the plant being restarted, others see it is as a necessary evil.
"It is a really sensitive issue because the plant is important to the local economy," said Kenichi Yasuda, an academic who lives in neighboring Nagano Prefecture. "It is often very hard for people in these communities to find jobs, so their choices are to move to Tokyo, work for the local government or find a job at the plants," he emphasized.
"Local people are worried about the dangers, especially after seeing what happened at Fukushima, but we cannot say they are completely opposed to Kashiwazaki-Kariwa," Yasuda said. "Personally I am a little surprised that the assembly passed the proposal as I did expect more resistance from locals and anti-nuclear organizations, so perhaps attitudes are really changing nearly 15 years after Fukushima."
While public opinion may be shifting, nuclear experts warn that the seismological situation around the plant has not altered.
"The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant site is one of the most vulnerable sites in Japan due to seismic fault lines and, as a result of the 2007 earthquake in Niigata, the population of the prefecture has long distrusted assurances from TEPCO on safety," said Shaun Burnie, a nuclear specialist with Greenpeace.
Before construction began at the site in 1980, authorities knew that the ground conditions were unsuitable for a nuclear installation, he claimed, insisting that TEPCO failed to investigate the possibility of active offshore fault lines and later, when it became aware that the faults were active, "chose not to disclose them."
"I worked in Niigata in the 1990s through to 2019 and the reason for public opposition is based on a fundamental lack of trust in TEPCO and the cover-ups that have been exposed over the decades," he said. "Earthquake risks and a lack of any credible evacuation plan are major issues that remain unresolved," the expert added.
"The worst-case scenario would see a severe accident caused by a major earthquake which then leads to major releases, but instead of the Pacific Ocean being the location of the fallout, it would come down over central Japan."