Almost five years on from the Fukushima triple meltdown, Japan has restarted one of two reactors at its Sendai plant and, in doing so, marked a long-awaited return to nuclear power. Located in the country’s Kagoshima Prefecture, the plant is the first to resume operations after the last of the country’s 44 reactors was shut down two years ago.

Anti-nuclear campaigners gathered outside the facility to protest against the decision

The Fukushima catastrophe, which was triggered by an earthquake off the coast and made worse by the resulting tsunami, claimed the lives of 16,000 people and triggered the evacuation of 160,000. Shaken both by the event and a failure to contain the damage in the time since, much of the population is opposed to a nuclear restart.

Anti-nuclear campaigners gathered outside the facility to protest against the decision. Among them was the former Prime Minister Naoto Kan who told the crowds: “We don’t need nuclear plants,” adding later that Fukushima had “exposed the myth of safe and cheap nuclear power, which turned out to be dangerous and expensive.” His successor Shinzo Abe, meanwhile, has already committed to nuclear power as part of the country’s energy strategy, with the resource set to make up a 20 percent share of Japan’s total generating capacity by 2030, down from 30 percent prior to the 2011 crisis.

Over $100m has been spent in keeping to the country’s beefed up safety regulations and the Sendai plant became the first of 25 applicant plants to be granted permission for a restart last September after passing what Abe called “the world’s toughest safety screening.”

Forecast to start generating power before the end of the first week, the plant should reach full capacity within the month and will be joined in October by a second reactor.