Japan ends nuclear freeze, orders restart of 2 power plants

Japan has ended a temporary halt to nuclear power generation with Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda today ordering reactivation of two nuclear reactors at a plant in western Japan.

The Kansai Electric Power Co's Ohi nuclear power station in Ohi Town in the Fukui Prefecture, in western Japan will be the nation's first nuclear plant to go back on line since the crisis last year at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant forced closure of all atomic power plants in the country.

The Ohi plant provides electricity to Kansai, Japan's second-largest urban area that includes the cities of Osaka and Kyoto. Kansai Electric Power, which operates the plant, had forecast that without the plant, power supplies there would fall 15 per cent short of the summer demand.

Noda's decision, which may please Japan's nuclear power business, was not, however, welcomed by a vast majority of Japanese voters. This could undermine Noda's political fortunes.

Japan's nuclear power industry came to a standstill following the triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Public out cry that followed forced the Japanese government to order idling of all 50 of the country's functional nuclear power reactors.

The Japanese prime minister also, last week, made a fervent appeal to the people that the county cannot afford to forgo cheap nuclear power unless it opts to sacrifice all is industrial gains.