Japan to restart first nuclear reactor since Fukushima disaster

Nevertheless, opinion polls show a majority of the Japanese public oppose the return to nuclear energy.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pushed for a return to nuclear energy, arguing it is essential to the country’s economic recovery to reduce the skyrocketing utility bills associated with energy imports.

Japan reactivated a nuclear plant in the southern part of the country today, marking the end of a years-long ban on nuclear power in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster.

Kyushu Electric Power Co. reopened the reactor at Sendai nuclear power plant on Tuesday morning after more than $100 million were spent of new safety systems.

Police officers and security personnel stand guard at an entrance of Kyushu Electric Power’s Sendai nuclear power station, during a protest demanding for the stop of the plant’s restart, in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima prefecture, Japan August 9, 2015.

Protestors gather on a daily basis at an intersection near government ministries in Tokyo, and they have been rallying outside the heavily-guarded plant for several days in Kyushu in an anticipation of Tuesday’s restart.

More than four years after a magnitude 9.0 quake and a massive tsunami ravaged Japan, an energy firm has revived the Sendai nuclear power plant.

The head of Japan’s atomic watchdog said that new safety rules meant a repeat of the Fukushima disaster would not happen.

More than four years since the world’s second-worst nuclear plant disaster, following the 1986 Chernobyl accident, some areas near the radiation-leaking plant remain uninhabitable, with more than 110,000 people still living as evacuees in and outside Fukushima Prefecture.

With other reactors around the country set to follow suit, Kashiwagi warned that Japan should be moving away from nuclear and other dirty fuels.

Miyazawa said nuclear power is “indispensable” for Japan.

But local residents said they are anxious about potential dangers from active volcanoes in the region, and there was no clarity around the evacuation plans for nearby hospitals and schools. Only five reactors have cleared the screenings so far. The reactor will take about 24 hours before a full reaction, and the plant is expected to start generating power by Friday. But while the government intends to eventually have wind and solar energy make up 30% of Japan’s energy supply, it is still less constant and reliable than nuclear, says Nobumasa Akiyama, a public policy professor at Hitotsubashi University.

The crisis transfixed the world as the government and the Fukushima operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), fumbled their response and took two months to confirm that the reactors had undergone meltdowns.

With its nuclear-fuel recycling programme stalled and plutonium stockpiles triggering worldwide concerns, Japan is under pressure to use as much of its stockpiles as possible.