A Japanese official said today that the country's nuclear reactors could be restarted if they were deemed safe by the new regulator, the Nuclear Regulation Authority.

"If safety is approved, such reactors could be considered," Economics Minister Seiji Maehara said. "We should rely on nuclear as an energy option for the time being."

Maehara's ministry has led the energy policy debate in the Cabinet, but his words could anger the growing number of anti-nuclear citizens. Two of the 50 working reactors were brought back online earlier this year, resulting in mass demonstrations around the country (Greenwire, July 30).

What remains unclear is how future restarts would move forward. Earlier this week, the regulator said its sole concern is safety and it is not responsible for authorizing restarts. It plans to put together new standards to govern the authorizations by March (Risa Maeda, Reuters, Oct. 5). -- JE