Niigata Approves Restart of World's Largest Nuclear Plant

Japanese local authorities have approved the partial restart of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, the world's largest by capacity, marking a significant step toward reviving atomic energy in the country more than a decade after the Fukushima disaster. The decision came on Friday from Niigata Governor Hideyo Hanazumi, who oversees the prefecture where the facility is located on the coast of Honshu island.

Hanazumi announced the approval during a news conference, clearing the way for Tokyo Electric Power Co., or Tepco, to resume operations at least at the plant's No. 6 reactor, pending final clearance from the national nuclear regulator. The seven-reactor complex, with a total capacity of over 8,000 megawatts, has been offline since 2011, when Japan halted all nuclear power generation following the earthquake-triggered tsunami that caused meltdowns at Tepco's Fukushima Daiichi plant on the opposite side of the island. That incident, the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986, led to widespread evacuations and a profound shift in public attitudes toward atomic energy.

The approval represents the first such move for Tepco since the disaster, which continues to...