Environment

Japan restarts first nuclear reactor - 4 years after Fukushima

Amid substantial public opposition, Japan on Tuesday restarted one of more than 40 atomic reactors that were taken out of service in wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. Kyushu Electric Power Co. said it had restarted the No. 1 reactor at its Sendai plant in Kagoshima prefecture about 600 miles southwest of Tokyo. The facility was expected to start actually generating electricity by the end of the week and return to full output by early September, operators said.

Nuclear power provided about 30% of Japan's energy before the Fukushima accident, the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. After the meltdown, Japan took its reactors off-line, and the government led by Prime Minister Naoto Kan announced a plan to phase out nuclear power by 2030.

Since then, Japan has had to make up for that lost generating capacity largely by burning coal and natural gas. Japan, which has little fossil fuel of its own, must import that material, and power costs have risen substantially for businesses and households.