Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Friday filed for safety assessments of reactors 6 and 7 at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power plant in Niigata Prefecture, joining other utilities seeking to reactivate their atomic power stations.

Tepco spent more than two months seeking local approval to apply for the Nuclear Regulation Authority's safety inspections, reflecting the sensitivity of reactor restarts by the utility responsible for the crippled Fukushima No. 1 complex. Niigata Gov. Hirohiko Izumida on Thursday gave the green light to the utility's plan to approach the NRA.

Economic and fiscal policy minister Akira Amari on Friday welcomed Tepco's move, saying that "it is a good thing for nuclear power safety, for the stable supply of electricity and for the local economy (of the two host towns)."