The Liberal Democratic Party's resounding election victory has raised hopes among host communities about restarting nuclear plants idled by the Fukushima crisis and the construction of new reactors, as the LDP is considered less inclined to seek to totally scrap atomic energy.
But with other communities nearby not sharing any immediate economic benefits from the nuclear power industry, and in many cases fearing the consequences of another catastrophic meltdown scenario, it remains to be seen if any reactors will be restarted anytime soon.
Safety screening that has been apparently tightened since the Nuclear Regulation Authority was established earlier this year may also create additional hurdles to clear before rebooting reactors.