Major victory for nuclear industry--first reactor up under post-Fukushima regime

SATSUMASENDAI, Kagoshima Pref. – Four years and five months after the crisis began at the Fukushima No. 1 power station, Japan formally returned to nuclear power last week with the restart of Kyushu Electric Power Co.’s Sendai No. 1 reactor in Kagoshima Prefecture.

Despite nationwide public opposition, questions about plant safety, the practicality of disaster response plans and who will be responsible for them, the strongly pro-nuclear Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, as well as the politically powerful utilities, local Liberal Democratic Party politicians, and major corporations involved in the nuclear industry have pushed hard to bring as many reactors back online as possible.