Japan Governor to Visit Fukushima Before Nuclear Plant Decision

(Bloomberg) -- The governor of Japan’s Niigata Prefecture will visit the site of the Fukushima disaster on Tuesday, a key trip before he decides on whether to approve the restart of a separate nuclear plant in his own region.

Governor Hideyo Hanazumi is expected to soon make a decision on Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Kashiwazaki Kariwa facility, the world’s largest nuclear power facility. The governor had said that he wanted to see Tepco’s Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant beforehand, which an official with the Niigata prefectural government said will happen on Tuesday.

Local government approval is the last step before the No. 6 reactor at the power plant, which was taken offline in the wake of the 2011 disaster, can restart. The trip follows the governor’s visit to Kashiwazaki Kariwa on Friday, where he stopped short of endorsing restart.

Restarting the facility would be a shot in the arm for Japan’s central government, which wants to restore more of the nation’s idled fleet of reactors to reduce dependence on fossil fuel imports.

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