Japan approves restart of Niigata nuclear power plant

The Japanese government has authorised the restart of two reactors at the Niigata nuclear power plant after it was shut down following the Fukushima nuclear accident. The Niigata plant is the largest nuclear power plant in the world, with an installed capacity of 8,000 MW.
The plant is operated by TEPCO, Tokyo Electric Power Company, and has a similar design to the Fukushima plant. Before the Fukushima accident, nuclear power accounted for 30% of Japan's electricity consumption. All of the country's nuclear power plants were shut down following the accident in 2011. Since then, 14 reactors out of a total of 54 have been authorised to restart.