Kyushu Electric Power Co. on Tuesday afternoon began loading fuel into the No. 1 reactor at its Sendai power station in preparation for a restart in mid-August, the first under safety standards adopted in response to the Fukushima crisis.

The 890,000-kilowatt unit in the city of Satsumasendai, on the west coast of Kagoshima Prefecture, will also be the first to be brought back on line since 2012.

But local concerns remain about the possibility of damage due to volcanic activity and how people living within 30 km of the two-reactor plant would be evacuated if a disaster hits.