The gigantic Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant remains the world’s biggest nearly 40 years after it was built. The nuclear power plant, which spans two entire towns in Japan – Kashiwazaki and Kariwa, has been shut off for the past 12 years.
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, which sits on the Sea of Japan coastline, is so incredibly huge that it is even bigger than two small European countries combined.
The 1,000-acre site (4.2 square kilometres) dwarfs the two smallest countries in Europe. The Vatican City sits on a tiny 121-acre space of land, to accommodate the 764 permanent residents there.
Meanwhile, the Japanese nuclear plant could almost fit two Monacos, which has an area of 2.1 square kilometres, or 510 acres.
The energy powerhouse in Japan, which started operations in 1985, was first shut down for 21 months after a 6.6-magnitude earthquake in 2007. At the time, it was the strongest earthquake to occur in the immediate range of a nuclear power plant.
It was then shut down again in 2012 following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. It was one of the 44 nuclear power plants in Japan that were ordered to close after the nuclear panic. It has remained offline ever since.
However, this could be about to change, with Japanese government plans going ahead to restart operations there in just a month.
Earlier this year, it was announced that the plant’s owner, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), was aiming for an October restart date. TEPCO has spent the last few years installing greater safety measures and protocols to align with government demands.
Yesterday, the Japanese government agreed to move ahead with securing consent from the local population to restart the plant next month.
If the restart goes ahead, the nuclear power plant, which has seven boiling water reactors (BWR), could generate 8,212 megawatts of power.
The second biggest nuclear power plant in the world is found in Bruce County, Ontario, Canada, while the Hanul Nuclear Power Plant in South Korea is third.
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine is the largest in Europe and the fifth-largest in the world.
However, the Ukrainian plant has been in the middle of a warzone since Russia’s invasion in 2022 and has sparked several warnings of nuclear disaster amid fears of being caught in the crossfire.
