Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and three other ministers agreed Friday that two reactors at the Oi nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture should be restarted, trade minister Yukio Edano said.

Ever since the Fukushima nuclear crisis erupted in March last year, not one of the reactors idled for standard checkups across the nation has been allowed to resume operation due to nationwide misgivings about the safety of atomic power. Reactors 3 and 4 at the Oi plant are the first being considered for resumption.

The four held several meetings about approving reactivation ahead of May 5, when the last active reactor in the nation is due to be taken offline for routine checks. The Oi plant is run by Kansai Electric Power Co.

After the ministers' sixth meeting, Edano said that Oi's two reactors were deemed safe enough to restart and that the units will be needed to make sure enough electricity is available this summer.

Edano is now expected to go to Fukui to personally pressure Fukui Gov. Issei Nishikawa on the controversial matter.

After taking heed of local opinions, Noda, Edano and Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura and nuclear disaster minister Goshi Hosono will make a final decision on whether to authorize the restart of reactors 3 and 4 at the plant, Edano said.

Since the magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami triggered explosions and meltdowns at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 power plant in March 2011, displacing thousands of residents, the public has been leery of the government's ardent nuclear safety claims.

Last July, the government made it a requirement for nuclear power plants to undergo two-stage stress tests and for idled reactors under inspection to pass the first-stage tests before going back online.

Nearly all of the nation's 54 commercial reactors remain shut down for checks since the Fukushima disaster, with the No. 3 reactor at Hokkaido Electric Power Co.'s Tomari plant in Hokkaido the only one running. If none resume operation by May 5, Japan will effectively sever its dependence on atomic power.