Japan closed nearly all of its nuclear plants after Fukushima, but some are coming back online

Japan closed down most of its nuclear plants after the Fukushima Daiichi disaster in 2011, and nuclear production dropped dramatically.

You can see this in the chart, which shows Japan's electricity mix since 1985. It’s based on data from the Energy Institute.

Fossil fuel plants — notably coal and gas — were ramped up to keep the lights on. The first nuclear reactors only came back online in 2015, under stricter rules from a new safety regulator created after the disaster.

As of early 2026, 15 reactors are running — out of 54 before Fukushima — and nuclear's share of electricity is still only around a third of its pre-2011 level.

Where this page came from

This page was imported from Our World in Data. “Japan closed nearly all of its nuclear plants after Fukushima, but some are coming back online” by Hannah Ritchie, Pablo Arriagada, published by Our World in Data under CC BY 4.0. Changed here: set as a page, its interactive charts shown as pictures. Data from third parties keeps its own licence.

Nobody has written it yet — it is the source material at a new address, which is why search engines are asked to skip it and why no one earns from it. It is up for grabs: take it on, and it is yours to rewrite and to earn from.