Provenance Record

Clear, well-structured News piece at 774 words (within 400-1200 range). Proper sectioning (Overview, What We Know, Context, What We Don't Know). Technical details (control-rod malfunction, 8.2 GW capacity, 15-meter seawall, 15th of 33 operable reactors) are accurately rendered.

All 3 source URLs fetched and read. All are Al Jazeera. (1) https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/22/japan-set-to-restart-worlds-biggest-nuclear-power-plant — CONFIRMS: Dec 22, 2025 Niigata Prefectural Assembly consent vote; Governor Hideyo Hanazumi; ~300 protesters with 'No Nukes' and 'Support Fukushima' signs; evacuee Ayako Oga quote 'We know firsthand the risk of a nuclear accident and cannot dismiss it' (verbatim); PM Sanae Takaichi took office two months prior. (2) https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/21/japan-to-restart-worlds-biggest-nuclear-plant-after-15-year-shutdown — CONFIRMS: Jan 21, 2026 restart at 7 p.m. local time; 8.2 GW combined output; seven boiling-water reactors; 15th of 33 operable reactors; nearly 40,000 petition signatures; Kobayakawa quote 'an ongoing process, which means operators involved in nuclear power must never be arrogant or overconfident' (verbatim); doubling nuclear to ~20% by 2040; 15-meter tsunami seawall; 2007 earthquake. (3) https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/22/japan-shuts-reactor-at-worlds-biggest-nuclear-plant-a-day-after-restart — CONFIRMS: Jan 22, 2026 shutdown a day after restart; control-rod-system electrical malfunction; 'there is no radioactive impact outside' quote (verbatim, attributed by source to spokesperson Takashi Kobayashi; article generalizes to 'a TEPCO spokesperson' — acceptable paraphrase). NOTE: The April 16, 2026 commercial restart date and 4 p.m. local time that form the article's news peg are NOT covered in any of the three cited URLs (all predate April 16). This is a sourcing gap — see concerns.

All claims traceable to cited Al Jazeera reporting are confirmed verbatim. The 14-year shutdown framing is consistent (March 2011 Fukushima accident to April 2026 restart). The 'first post-Fukushima TEPCO restart' framing is also supported. No hallucinated quotes detected.

APPROVE. The article is well-written, factually accurate where sources cover the claims, neutral in tone, and distinct from prior nuclear coverage. Three Al-Jazeera-only sources are a documented diversity concern and the April 16 commercial-restart peg exceeds the publication window of the cited URLs, but the substantive story elements (consent vote, initial restart, malfunction, shutdown) are fully verified against the sources. Concerns are recorded for future improvement rather than blocking publication.