Ehime on Monday became the second prefecture to approve restarting a reactor since the March 2011 start of the Fukushima nuclear crisis.
Ehime Gov. Tokihiro Nakamura conveyed his approval for restarting reactor 3 at the Ikata nuclear power plant when he met with Hayato Saeki, president of Shikoku Electric Power Co., which operates the plant.
"It would be better not to have (a nuclear plant). Still, we have no choice but to implement the most advanced safety measures and live with it until we find alternative energy to nuclear power," Nakamura said at a news conference after the meeting.