The Japanese company Kansai Electric Power Company restarted reactor No. 3 at the Ohi nuclear power station on July 1. pref

This is the first reactor to be restarted since last year's nuclear disaster at Fukushima, which forced all the reactors to be shut down for safety reasons.

The Japanese Government has introduced new rules and procedures to ensure the country’s nuclear power stations are safe and these are strictly adhered to.

According to Kansai, with the capacity to produce 1.8 million kilowatts of power, reactor No. 3 could be back in operation as early as July 4.

The company said it also plans to start up reactor No. 4 by July 17.

The input from reactor No. 3 will help to reduce the utility's projected power shortage from 14.9 percent to 9.2 percent in its service area this summer.

All 50 commercial nuclear reactors in Japan have been offline since May 5 for safety checks. The government has also been conducting simulations before restarting its nuclear reactors in response to public concerns over safety in the wake of last year’s Fukushima Daiichi crisis.

Before the March 2011 nuclear disaster, Japan had relied on nuclear energy for around 30 percent of its electricity needs, according to government figures./.