Japan switches nuclear power back on four years after Fukushima

The restart comes more than four years after a quake-generated tsunami triggered meltdowns at the Fukushima plant, prompting the shutdown of Japan’s stable of reactors.

The plant’s operator expects the reactor to start generating power by Friday and reach full capacity next month.

Japan is placed to restart a nuclear reactor for that very first time on Thursday in 2 yrs, the owner said – the 2011 Fukushima disaster is nonetheless run large following by sentiment.

However, local residents showed their mistrust over the new safety regulations, indicating they were anxious about potential dangers from active volcanoes in the region.

The plant, which is on the west coast of Kyushu island, is a distance away from the reactors from Tokyo, where protesters regularly gather outside Abe’s official residence to oppose atomic energy. The disaster has widely been considered the worst nuclear disaster since the 1986 meltdown at Chernobyl in the Ukraine.

Concerns remain, however, over the use of nuclear power. Only five reactors at three sites have been cleared for restart under the new rules, and a court blocked one of them.

Utility Kyushu Electric Power, which operates the reactor at Sendai about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) southwest of Tokyo, said it was turned on at 10:30 am (0130 GMT).

But Jan Vande Putte, a specialist in radiation safety and an energy campaigner with Greenpeace Belgium, notes that, “Japan has been nuclear-free for over a year, and no electricity blackouts have occurred”.

Among those in the crowd was ex-prime minister Naoto Kan, who was in office at the time of the disaster and is now an outspoken critic of nuclear power. The plans call for the second reactor to be restarted in October.

As part of the safety procedures, the administration and the energy company have erected stronger and higher walls to protect the plant’s reactors from tsunamis, according to Engadget.

The whole sector has been shut down since 2013, forcing Japan to rely on expensive gas and fuel imports. In July, the country’s energy ministry said they wanted nuclear power to account for 22 percent of Japan’s electricity by 2030.

Opponents of the restarts and nuclear experts are concerned about possible glitches in mothballed reactors that have not been used for more than four years and that evacuation plans may not work well.

Abe assured on Monday that the reactor has passed the “world’s toughest safety screening”.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the re-introduction of nuclear power is needed on economic grounds. “They’re only thinking of the now, thinking of the money, saying to themselves, “While I’m president of the company there’s isn’t going to be another huge earthquake” … it’s the same with the bureaucrats”, he said.