Japan to switch nuclear reactors back on today after two-year hiatus but Fukushima scars still remain

Japan is set to restart a mothballed nuclear reactor for the first time in two years on Tuesday, the operator said, as anti-atomic sentiment still runs high following the 2011 Fukushima crisis.

The reactor No. 1 at the Sendai nuclear plant, nearly 1,000km southwest of Tokyo, has been loaded with atomic fuel and its operator announced the reactor would be running by 10:30am today.

The 31-year-old reactor was expected to reach full operating capacity by “around 11:00 pm” Tuesday, a Kyushu Electric Power spokeswoman said.

The restart comes four and a half years after a quake-sparked tsunami triggered meltdowns at the Fukushima plant, prompting the shutdown of the country’s stable of reactors.

Japan, which once relied on nuclear power for a quarter of its electricity, restarted two reactors temporarily to feed the resource-poor country’s needs. But they both went offline by September 2013, making the country completely nuclear-free for about two years.

The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is keen to get them back up and running, as are the power companies that own them, fed up with having to make up lost generating capacity with pricey fossil fuels.

But Japan’s people are sceptical and the country remains deeply scarred by Fukushima, which forced tens of thousands of people from their homes.