Japan ends two-year nuclear shutdown

Japan ended the two-year nuclear shutdown despite lingering public fears over atomic power in the wake of the 2011 meltdown of the country's Fukushima Daiichi plant, triggered by an earthquake and a tsunami.

"The reactor No 1 at the Sendai nuclear power plant started operating at 10:30 am (0130 UTC)," said a spokesman for Kyushu Electric Power, which operates the reactor located 1,000 kilometres southwest of Tokyo.

Kyushu Election Power Co. plans to begin generating power on August 14, and the plant is expected to return to normal operations next month.

"We will continue to seriously and carefully cooperate with the country's inspections, making safety our top priority, cautiously advancing the restart process," the company said in a statement Monday.

The move to reintroduce nuclear power had triggered protests outside Japan's Sendai nuclear plant Monday. Local activists say there is no adequate plan in place to evacuate tens of thousands of residents should the reactor meltdown like Fukushima.

The Fukushima meltdown in the wake of a massive March 2011 earthquake was the largest nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl catastrophe of 1986. It led to a complete shutdown of Japan's nuclear power plants in 2013.

Before the shutdown, Japan had generated thirty percent of its electricity through nuclear power.

Fears in wake of Fukushima

"I can never tolerate it," said one protestor regarding nuclear power Monday's demonstration.

Opponents caution that Japan records more earthquakes than any other country, and that the Sendai reactor is only 60 kilometers away from an active volcano.

"There are schools and hospitals near the plant, but no one has told us how children and the elderly would be evacuated," Yoshitaka Mukohara, a representative of a group opposing the Sendai restart, told the Guardian.

"Naturally there will be gridlock caused by the sheer number of vehicles, landslides, and damaged roads and bridges."

Surveys indicate most Japanese oppose reintroducing nuclear power. A poll conducted by the newspaper "Mainchi Shimbun" revealed that 57 percent of respondents were against restoring nuclear power generationg and only 30 percent in favor.

"Japan has been nuclear-free for over a year, and no electricity blackouts have occurred," said radiation specialist Jan Vande Putte. "The Japanese government should turn its back on nuclear power and instead opt for an energy policy based on improving energy efficiency and expanding renewable energy."

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bw/gsw (AP, AFP, dpa, IPS)