TOKYO — Protesters thronged the streets in front of the prime minister’s office in Tokyo, and across the country they gathered about a quarter-mile from the entrance of a nuclear plant. They shouted, “No to the restart!” and parked cars in front of the plant’s access road, blocking workers from coming or going, Japanese media reported.
But the workers were already inside.
On Sunday, at the Ohi nuclear facility along Japan’s western shoreline, those workers went through the technical steps to reboot a reactor, the first to come back on line since last year’s massive nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi.
The restart at Ohi, with potentially more to follow, will avert dire power shortages, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has told the nation. But the restart has divided the country, staging a hostile showdown between the government and those doubtful about its atomic-safety claims.
A rally Friday in front of Noda’s office drew 17,000 protesters, according to police, though organizers put the number at about 200,000. The government has given no indication that it will rethink its nuclear- restart efforts.
