The Japanese utility Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) plans to reactivate its 1.3 GW No. 6 reactor at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in January 2026. "A pre-operational confirmation modification application, which states the planned reactor startup date as January 20, 2026, to confirm the integrity of the plant with actual steam, and the planned commencement date for the operation of the nuclear reactor facility as February 26, 2026, was submitted to Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA)" (Tepco press release, 24/12/2025).
The submission came two days after the Niigata local government approved the restart of the No. 6 and No. 7 reactors at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa.
"In conjunction with the commencement of commercial operation of Unit 6, some of the Unit 7 systems (which are shared with Unit 6) will need to be used for Unit 6. Therefore, a pre-operational confirmation modification application for Unit 7 was also submitted today to the NRA," the company added.
The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant consists of seven reactors with a combined capacity of approximately 8 GW, of which Units 6 and 7 have passed the stricter post-Fukushima safety inspections. Units 6 and 7 at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa have been offline since March 2012 and August 2011, respectively.
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