东京电力控股（TEPCO）计划在全球最大核电厂——新潟县柏崎刈羽核电厂——周边开发资料中心与制氢设施，以切入 AI 热潮所需的电力与基础设施并分散营收。该厂在 2011 年地震海啸后停运，预计下月重启；此举也被视为在福岛第一核事故后、相隔约 13 年的重启里程碑。

资料中心选址靠近电源，可在不大幅新建长距离输电线路下取得大量电力、缩短工期并降低成本。AI 用资料中心耗电约为传统资料中心的 10 倍；日本资料中心用电量预估到 2034 财年升至 440 亿度（kWh），较 2025 财年预测值增加 15 倍，而电网容量不足成为瓶颈。柏崎刈羽距东京逾 200 公里，延迟与通讯需仰赖如 NTT 的高速网路；2024 年起美国科技公司亦兴起在电厂旁布建资料中心，亚马逊在宾州案例之外，微软与 Meta 也签了核电直供协议，日本的 JERA（2030 年）与 J-Power/日立（2029 财年）等也在推进。

即使重启，七座机组中仅一座先恢复运转，且 TEPCO仍须负担福岛第一电厂除役与赔偿等成本，使财务压力延续。公司估计单一核反应炉对损益的影响约每年 1,000 亿日圆（约 6.4 亿美元），并还要投入新潟的地方经济基金；要把已连续 7 年为负的现金流扭转为正，可能仍需数年。TEPCO亦考虑在核电厂周边于 2030 年前后开始产氢，并另在柏崎市自建资料中心以分散自家数位基础设施。

TEPCO plans to develop data centers and hydrogen production near the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata, the world’s largest, to diversify revenue and serve fast-growing AI infrastructure demand. The plant is slated to restart next month after being suspended following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, marking a restart after roughly a 13-year hiatus in the post-Fukushima era.

Siting data centers next to a major power source can secure large amounts of electricity without massive new transmission-line buildouts, lowering cost and time. AI data centers use about 10x the electricity of conventional facilities; Japan’s data-center power demand is projected to reach 44 billion kWh by fiscal 2034, a 15x jump versus the fiscal 2025 forecast, with grid capacity a key bottleneck. Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is over 200 km from central Tokyo, so latency and communications depend on high-speed networks such as NTT’s; similar “power-plant-adjacent” data-center deals accelerated in 2024 in the U.S., and Japan has parallel plans (JERA by 2030; J-Power/Hitachi as early as fiscal 2029).

Financially, only 1 of the plant’s 7 reactors will restart initially, while TEPCO remains liable for Fukushima Daiichi decommissioning and compensation costs. TEPCO estimates a single reactor’s bottom-line impact at about 100 billion yen (about $640 million) per year and must also contribute to Niigata’s local economy fund; turning cash flow positive after seven consecutive negative years may still take several years. TEPCO is also considering hydrogen output around 2030 and will build its own data center in Kashiwazaki to diversify its digital infrastructure footprint.