ALBAWABA - On Tuesday, the Onagawa nuclear reactor in Japan's Miyagi area, which is located near the location of the Fukushima accident that occurred in 2011, restarted operations on Tuesday, according to AFP, marking a significant development in the country’s energy strategy.
Unit 2 of the Onagawa facility, operated by Tohoku Electric Power Company, became the first boiling water reactor (BWR) of the same kind as Fukushima's to restart in Japan since the disaster that occurred in 2011. This comes as an aftermath of stringent safety improvements, which included the construction of a 29 meters tall, tsunami-resistant wall, one of the tallest in the country.
Just 12 of Japan's 33 operating reactors have been restarted following the Fukushima accident, which resulted in the closure of all 54 nuclear reactors throughout the country, according to Associated Press. As a vital component in Japan's efforts to achieve its decarbonization and energy stability objectives, the restart of the Onagawa reactor underlines the country's strategic move back to nuclear power.
As part of the nation's larger objective to attain carbon neutrality by the year 2050, the government has set a target for nuclear energy to account for 20-22% of the country's power by the year 2030, in a significant increase from the current contribution of only 10%.
The nuclear sector in Japan has developed strengthened safety measures resulting from years of fierce regulatory changes. These measures include improved resistance to tsunamis and seismic fortification, with the Onagawa facility, which survived a 2011 13-meter tsunami and safely shut down its reactors, serving as a testament.
