Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) — Kyushu Electric Power Co. received
final local approval for reactors at its Sendai nuclear plant to
resume operations, clearing the way for the first of Japan’s
nuclear reactors to restart as soon as early next year.
Yoichiro Ito, governor of Kagoshima prefecture, today gave
his consent to the restart of the two reactors, according to a
statement from the prefecture. The decision followed a vote last
month to permit the units’ resumption by officials in
Satsumasendai city, the community closest to the reactors.
A spokesperson for Kyushu Electric couldn’t immediately
comment. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the
approval is a big step toward resuming operations.
The decisions set up the Sendai reactors to be the first
atomic plants to begin operating under tougher safety rules set
by the Nuclear Regulation Authority, the agency created after
the Fukushima disaster to restore confidence in the industry.
While the agency said in September that the units were safe
to operate, it still must complete final reviews of construction
plans and safety-management rules at the plant. The reactors
will probably resume in January or February, Hidetoshi Shioda, a
Tokyo-based senior analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc., said
today, ahead of the widely expected approval.
Japan’s operable commercial fleet of 48 reactors is shut
for maintenance or safety checks, following the March 2011
Fukushima disaster. The last of the reactors was idled in
September 2013.
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Masumi Suga in Tokyo at
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Jason Rogers at
Iain Wilson