Japan vote moves world's biggest nuclear plant closer to restart

Tokyo: A Japanese regional assembly backed a plan on Monday to restart the world s biggest nuclear plant for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima d...

Tokyo: A Japanese regional assembly backed a plan on Monday to restart the world's biggest nuclear plant for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, taking it a step closer to resumption.

The move came after Niigata prefecture governor Hideyo Hanazumi approved the restart of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant last month.

The plant was taken offline when Japan pulled the plug on nuclear power after a colossal earthquake and tsunami sent three reactors at the Fukushima atomic plant into meltdown in 2011.

However, the resource-poor nation now wants to revive atomic energy to reduce its heavy dependence on fossil fuels, achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and meet growing energy needs from artificial intelligence.

The assembly in Niigata, where Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is located, voted on Monday on a regional extra budget bill, which included a supplementary resolution to endorse the governor's decision.