Keidanren Chairman Yoshinobu Tsutsui Visits Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant; Inspects New Emergency Safety System

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:35 JST, December 2, 2025

Yoshinobu Tsutsui, the chairman of Keidanren (the Japan Business Federation), visited Tokyo Electric Power Company’s deactivated Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture on Monday, inspecting the facility’s monitoring systems and observing emergency response drills.

With Niigata Prefecture Gov. Hideyo Hanazumi having given his approval for the plant to be reactivated, Unit 6 at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is expected to resume operations within this fiscal year.

Tsutsui observed various measures established in preparation for this, including facial recognition systems to verify workers’ identities and drills in which workers practiced using water trucks to cool reactor interiors in case of a cooling system failure.

“Based on lessons learned from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant accident, multiple equipment systems and countermeasures have been implemented to ensure thorough preparedness,” Tsutsui told reporters after the inspection. Tomoaki Kobayakawa, President of TEPCO Holdings, Inc., who was also present, said, “It is extremely important for TEPCO, which caused the accident, to regain trust and complete the reactivation [of the plant].”

Tsutsui also met with Hanazumi at the offices of the prefectural government and expressed his intention to create opportunities for interaction with the local business community. Hanazumi requested cooperation in regional revitalization and awareness-raising activities concerning nuclear power.