Fukushima owner edges towards restarting first reactor since meltdown

The owner of the Fukushima nuclear power plant is edging closer to having one of its nuclear reactors restarted for the first time since the 2011 disaster.

Hideyo Hanazumi, the governor of the Niigata region, where Japan's largest nuclear power plant is located said the prefecture would give its consent for restart.

It will need final approval from Japan's nuclear regulator before the plan to resume operations at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa facility, operated by Tepco, goes ahead.

If approved, it would be the first time Tepco is allowed to recommence nuclear reactor operations in Japan since its Fukushima plant went into meltdown following a tsunami.

Residents in Niigata are divided over whether the plant should be restarted or not.

Hanazumi told a news conference on Friday that, once approved, the decision would then be discussed in December at a prefectural government assembly, where he would seek the assembly's approval.

The approval would be for the recommencement of operations at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant's No 6 reactor, followed by the No 7.

The resumption of operations at the facility is part of Tepco's business reconstruction plan following the Fukushima meltdown - when the plant's reactors were flooded, causing radiation to leak out and forcing 150,000 people to be evacuated from the area.

Eighteen-thousand people were killed in the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that preceded it.

Following the disaster, Tepco was ordered to pay trillions of Japanese yen in damages to those affected and is also paying for the plant's decommissioning costs.

A survey released by Niigata prefecture last month suggested 50% of the its residents supported the plant's restart, while 47% were against it. It also indicated that almost 70% of people in the prefecture were concerned about Tepco running the plant.

Fourteen nuclear reactors have already resumed operations in Japan since the Fukushima disaster.

Friday's decision demonstrates Japan's desire to move towards increased use of atomic energy to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels as it pursues a goal of net zero carbon emissions.