About 19 of 26 assembly members of Satsumasendai Kagoshima Prefecture, which is located 1,000km (600 miles) south-west of Tokyo, have voted in favor of restarting the two nuclear reactors.
Subsequently, the city mayor approved the power plant restart despite Japanese environmental authorities issuing warnings of an eruption at Ioyama volcano, which is located on the island of Kyushu, and roughly 64km away from the already damaged Sendai nuclear power plant.
Satsumasendai city mayor Hideo Iwakiri said the city "has decided [to restart the nuclear reactor], after considering the main points of state policy in the energy sector involving the restart of state-run nuclear power plants."
The nuclear power plant is likely to restart operations until 2015 following completion of operational safety checks and necessary paper work by Kyushu Electric.
Japan gradually closed all of its 48 nuclear reactors following 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, forcing the country to import expensive fossil fuels for power generation.
Previously, Japan’s nuclear power had contributed around 30% to the country’s electricity generation capacity.
Greenpeace Japan nuclear campaigner Ai Kashiwagi said: "There are many significant unanswered or ignored safety questions – these must be addressed publicly and to the satisfaction of the people whose lives and livelihoods are threatened by a potential restart of the Sendai reactors."
Image: Sendai power plant is located 40km from active volcano Mount Sakurajima in Japan. Photo: courtesy of Kimon Berlin.
