Japan restarts first nuclear reactor since Fukushima disaster

On Augist 11 Japan restarted its first nuclear reactor under new safety rules following the 2011 Fukushima disaster. Photo: Protesters shouting slogans during an anti-nuclear rally in Tokyo, Aug. 11, 2015.

Kyushu Electric Power Co. said Tuesday, it had restarted the No. 1 reactor at its Sendai nuclear plant. Photo: A condensate storage tank which was prepared for tornado at Sendai Nuclear Power Station, Kagoshima prefecture, southern Japan

The restart marks Japan's return to nuclear energy four-and-half-years after the 2011 meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan following an earthquake and tsunami. Photo: Anti-nuclear rally in front of Prime Minister's official residence in Tokyo, Aug. 11, 2015

After the Fukushima nuclear disaster, all the nation's 48 commercial nuclear reactors were shut down. Photo: protester seen during an anti-nuclear rally in Tokyo, Aug. 11

The government later introduced stricter safety standards in case of accidents and disasters. Photo: Reactor buildings at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma

In March 2011 the tsunami triggered by the quake in Japan left more than 18,000 people dead or missing. A gigantic wave hit the nuclear power plant Fukushima-1 that resulted in the most devastating nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl nuclear power plant catastrophe in 1986. Photo: Crippled reactor building of Tokyo Electric Power Co., Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma, northeastern Japan

The government later said nuclear power plants will be decommissioned when their authorized 40-year lifespans expire. Photo: workers is given a radiation screening at the emergency operation center at the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station in Okuma, 2011

Japan’s energy companies submitted applications for another 19 reactors to resume their operations, but the process was slowed down by safety checks and paperwork. Photo: Central operating control room of the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors of Tokyo Electric Power Co. at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma, 2014

The reopening of the 1.78GW nuclear power station will be an important benchmark in Japan’s energy policy. Photo: Workers building tanks to store radioactive water in the compound of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma t, 2014

Earthquake-damaged road in the abandoned town of Naraha, which was once inside the nuclear exclusion zone surrounding the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, in Japan