Japan’s long and contentious return to nuclear energy has finally reached a highly desired though long-delayed goal. On November 21, Niigata Governor Hanazumi Hideyo agreed to restart the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, which with its seven reactors, was once was the world’s largest nuclear power plant by capacity.

The governor’s decision not only culminates a 20-month consultation process, but it also marks a potential return to operation of TEPCO’s first reactor since the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi disaster.

At the national level, the approval is framed as necessary for Japan’s energy strategy. Eastern Japan faces rising electricity costs, and ambitious industrial policies centered on semiconductors and AI beg for more energy sources. Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is a test case for whether Japan can normalize nuclear operations.

Restarting the plant, however, does not resolve all the issues that Japan’s nuclear industry faces. Rather than a decisive return to nuclear power, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa restart marks the end of a prolonged political stalemate. Yet, Japan still has to resolve concerns among local communities over the atom’s structural problems.