Japan nuclear plant gets safety clearance, Abe hopes for restarts

An employee of Kyushu Electric Power Co walks in front of reactor buildings at the company's Sendai nuclear power plant in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima prefecture April 3, 2014. REUTERS/Mari Saito

TOKYO (Reuters) - A nuclear plant in southern Japan cleared an initial safety hurdle on Wednesday which could make it the first nuclear facility to restart under tough new safety regulations after the industry was idled by the 2011 Fukushima disaster.

With Japan in its first summer without nuclear power in four decades, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pushing to restart the country's nuclear sector, as a prolonged shutdown forces the nation to rely on expensive fossil fuel imports.