World's Largest Nuclear Power Plant Could Reopen With New Safety Measures

In Japan, the world's largest nuclear power plant could soon reopen after installing tsunami walls and other safety measures.

Transcript

00:00This is the largest nuclear power plant in the world.

00:04It was able to power over 13 million households.

00:07But for over a decade, this Japanese plant has been offline.

00:12Japan closed all of its nuclear plants after a tsunami in 2011 caused reactors at its Fukushima

00:18facility to melt down, releasing radioactive materials into the air in the worst nuclear

00:23accident of the century.

00:26With this plant, the Kashiwazaki-Kuriwa may soon restart two of its reactors, with more

00:32safety measures to protect against natural disasters.

00:56The plant, located on Japan's west coast, also has a new tsunami wall, 15 meters tall.

01:08It's installed new backup power supplies and a vent to filter out radioactive particles.

01:13Learning from the 2011 disaster, when everything went dark and no one could see, glow-in-the-dark

01:18stickers have been added to parts of the facility.

01:40Japan has already reopened at least 12 other nuclear plants across the country since 2011,

01:46trying to ramp its nuclear energy back up to reach its climate goals.

01:50Before the Fukushima disaster, around a third of Japan's electricity came from nuclear power.

01:56And when it closed its plants, it had to step up imports of other energy sources, like coal,

02:01which produce greenhouse gases and pollutants when burned.

02:05But the local government still needs to approve Kashiwazaki-Kuriwa's reopening.

02:09While a reopening date has yet to be set, the plant is working to up its safety measures

02:30until it gets a green light.

02:32James Lynn and Cadence Coranta for Taiwan Plus.