– Edited By Chris Reed –
Japan's Nuclear Saftey Commission said on Monday it has given Tokyo Electric Power Co the green light to restart operations at one of four nuclear reactors still shut at a quake-hit plant in northern Japan.
Asia's largest utility still needs approval from three local authorities — the city of Kashiwazaki, the village of Kariwa and Niigata Prefecture — before it can begin restart tests on the 1,100-megawatt No.5 reactor at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant.
TEPCO restarted the No.6 and No.7 units last year and the No.1 unit earlier this year at the nuclear plant, the world's largest, after a major earthquake in northern Japan forced the plant of a total seven units to close in July 2007.