The Tokyo metropolitan area now appears likely to avoid significant power shortages this summer, after Fukushima Gov. Eisaku Sato gave his consent Thursday for restarting one of Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s nuclear power plants in his prefecture.
The reactor has been shut down along with other Tepco reactors because of a defect coverup scandal.
Sato gave the go-ahead for restarting the No. 6 reactor at the Fukushima nuclear plant after a meeting with Tepco President Tsunehisa Katsumata, who visited the governor to seek his consent, prefectural officials said.
If the reactor, whose output capacity is 1.1 mw, is restarted within the next few weeks, it could reduce the possibility of power cuts in the Tokyo metropolitan area.