Edward White in Taipei
Shares in Tokyo Electric Power Company jumped as much as 8.8 per cent on Monday after the election of a new governor fuelled fresh optimism over the potential restart of a major nuclear power facility in the area.
Hideyo Hanazumi, backed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, won the Niigata governor’s election on Sunday. His predecessor, Ryuichi Yoneyama, was a firm opponent of restarting Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, the world’s largest nuclear generating site, which was shut down after the after the 2011 Fukushima disaster.
The restart of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa’s seven nuclear reactors, located on Japan’s largest island, was approved by the Nuclear Regulation Authority in 2017 after years of effort by Tepco to convince officials the facilities were safe to operate.
Continue reading at Tepco shares rally as election result sparks nuclear restart hopes
