Japan reactor restarts in post-Fukushima nuclear push

NUCLEAR POWER: Residents and others opposing the reactor restart gather near the Ikata nuclear power plant of Shikoku Electric Power in Ehime prefecture, about 700 km southwest of Tokyo on Friday. (AFP)

TOKYO: Japan restarted a nuclear reactor on Friday despite a court challenge by local residents, in a boost for Tokyo’s faltering post-Fukushima push to bring back atomic power.
Operator Shikoku Electric Power said it switched on the No. 3 reactor at its Ikata nuclear power plant in Ehime prefecture, about 700 km southwest of Tokyo.
The reactor, shuttered along with dozens of others across Japan in the wake of the March 2011 Fukushima accident, was expected to be fully operational by Aug. 22.
The prefecture’s governor and the mayor of the plant’s host town agreed on the restart in October, in the face of opposition from some local residents who filed a lawsuit to halt the refiring.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and utility companies have been pushing to get reactors back in operation after a huge earthquake and tsunami caused a disastrous meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan.
The accident forced all of Japan’s dozens of reactors offline in the face of public worries over the safety of nuclear power and fears about radiation exposure, forcing a move to pricey fossil fuels.