Kyushu Electric Power Co. on Tuesday restarted the No. 4 reactor at its Genkai nuclear power plant in Saga Prefecture, which had been shut down since it developed trouble Oct. 4. Due to the nature of the trouble, it was not legally required to get prior approval for the restart from the town of Genkai and the Saga prefectural government in accordance with agreements on plant safety. The reactor was not subject to a stress test either, since it had not been going through a regular inspection.

But the restart of the reactor will deepen people's distrust of Kyushu because its problem behavior has been exposed and its decision to restart the reactor gives the impression that it gives priority to securing profits rather than safety.

The firm is known to have manipulated a public discussion meeting in 2005 on the introduction of MOX plutonium-uranium fuel to the Genkai plant. And in October it snubbed a third-party committee's report on the discussion manipulation.