Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda stressed Friday that restarting the Oi nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture is crucial to meet the nation's energy needs this summer and to ensure sustainable economic growth in the longer term.
"If we end (nuclear power generation) or if we continue to avoid reactivating reactors," everything will grind to a standstill, Noda told a news conference.
Noda also assured the public that reactors 3 and 4 at the Oi facility, which the government is pushing hard to put back online, have been secured and pose no safety risk even if the plant is rocked by a major earthquake or inundated by tsunami.