Japan approves restart of Fukushima-like nuclear reactor

The governor of Japan's Shimane Prefecture, Tatsuya Maruyama, approved a plan on Thursday to restart a nuclear reactor of the same type as that used at Fukushima, the nuclear reactor that went into meltdown after a tsunami in 2011, local media reported.
Maruyama announced in a prefectural assembly session that the No. 2 unit at Chugoku Electric Power Co's Shimane nuclear plant in Matsue, western Japan, would be allowed to start operating again, media including the Kyodo news agency and newspaper the Japan Times reported.
Chugoku Electric intended to restart the reactor in 2023 at the earliest, Kyodo reported.
The No. 2 reactor at the Shimane plant, which first started operating in 1989, has been inactive since 2012.
According to Japanese media, Chugoku Electric applied to the Nuclear Regulation Authority for permission to restart the reactor in 2013 and passed the regulator's screenings in September 2021.
The city of Matsue gave its consent to restart the plant in February, the Japan Times reported.
Following an earthquake on March 11, 2011, a gigantic tsunami slammed over huge swathes of Japan killing around 20,000 people.
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was not designed to withstand a combined earthquake and tsunami of such magnitude. While the plant withstood the earthquake, the subsequent tsunami breached its seawalls.
Even though none of the deaths at the time were attributed to radiation, the breach of the plant alarmed nuclear plant operators around the world and even prompted former German chancellor Angela Merkel to end the use of nuclear power in Germany for good.