Japan on road to nuclear revival as region votes to restart its reactors
Move paves way for revival of industry that has been stalled since the Fukushima disaster in 2011
Regional authorities in Japan yesterday agreed to restart the idle Sendai nuclear plant of Kyushu Electric Power, paving the way for a revival of the stalled industry more than three years after the Fukushima disaster.
In a vote yesterday, Kagoshima's prefectural assembly backed the restart by 38 to 47.
The two-reactor Sendai plant, located 1,000km southwest of Tokyo in Kagoshima prefecture, won an important endorsement for the restart from the local township last month.
"I have decided that it is unavoidable to restart the No. 1 and No. 2 Sendai nuclear reactors," Governor Yuichiro Ito said. "I have said that assuring safety is a prerequisite [for restarting] and that the government must ensure safety and publicly explain it thoroughly to residents."
The Sendai plant is still unlikely to reopen until next year as it needs to pass operational safety checks.
Shares in Kyushu Electric jumped 4 per cent yesterday, compared to the 0.5 per cent rise on Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei.
Kagoshima held several town hall meetings in areas closest to the nuclear plant ahead of the vote, but some residents complained that they were restricted from asking about evacuation plans.
Screams and yelling from opponents of the restart drowned out the final vote.
The national government has said it would defer to regional authorities to approve any restart. The Sendai plant now faces few obstacles, having secured approval from the host city, its mayor, the prefectural assembly and now an official endorsement from its governor.
If the move goes through, the Sendai reactors would become the first to restart under a new, independent regulator formed after a massive earthquake and tsunami set off multiple meltdowns at Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushima Daiichi plant in 2011.
Japan has been forced to import expensive fossil fuels to replace nuclear power, which supplied around 30 per cent of its electricity before the disaster.
Industry Minister Yoichi Miyazawa welcomed the southern prefecture's move, saying the government "really appreciates that Kagoshima prefecture is doing so many things" for restarting the reactors.
