A reactor at the Tomari nuclear power plant in Hokkaido became the first to resume full commercial operation since the disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 plant after Hokkaido Gov. Harumi Takahashi officially gave her approval Wednesday.
The Tomari plant's reactor 3 is the first of the reactors undergoing regular inspections at the time of the Fukushima crisis to go fully online again.
However, because the reactor has already been generating electricity at full capacity under what is known as an "adjustment operation" in the final phase of the inspection, there will be effectively no difference in output as it shifts to commercial operation.