九州電力は8月10日、鹿児島県薩摩川内市の川内原発1号機（89万kw）を、11日に再稼働すると発表した。
東日本大震災後に整備された新たな規制基準での原発再稼働は初めて。東日本大震災後、関西電力大飯原発3・4号機（福井県おおい町）が一時的に再稼働し、2013年9月に運転を停止して以来、1年11カ月ぶりに「原発ゼロ」状態が終わる。
朝日新聞デジタルによると、11日午後11時ごろに核分裂が連続して起こる臨界に達する見通し。14日から発電・送電を始め、9月上旬に営業運転に入る。
福島第一原発の事故の反省を踏まえ、地震や津波の想定を厳しくした新規制基準が１３年７月に施行された。川内原発１、２号機は１４年９月、全国の原発で初めて新基準に適合していると規制委に認められた。
今年３月からは安全設備などを確認する規制委の使用前検査が始まり、７月下旬には、福島第一原発の事故と同様の重大事故を想定した訓練も行った。
（九州・川内原発、あす再稼働 新規制下で初めて：朝日新聞デジタルより 2015/08/10 12:53）
安倍晋三首相は10日、参院予算委員会で「安全神話に陥ることなく、さらなる安全性の向上を不断に追求していくことが何よりも重要だ」と述べた。安全保障関連法案や新国立競技場問題の影響で支持率が下がり続ける安倍政権にとって、世論を二分する原発再稼働はさらに逆風になる可能性もはらむ。野党は、民主党の枝野幸男幹事長が「電力不足による（再稼働の）必要性は著しく下がっている」、維新の党の片山虎之助参院議員会長も「最終処分場が定かではない。避難計画の話も、ちゃんとできていない」と述べるなど、批判を強めている。
川内原発と鹿児島 画像集
General Views Of Satsumasendai And Ichikikushikino Cities As Residents Vote On Resumption Of Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s Sendai Nuclear Power Plant(01 of24)
Students ride bicycles across the main street in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, on Monday, Oct. 27, 2014. Residents near the Sendai nuclear plant in southern Japan vote on Oct. 28 whether to resume operations at the facility, highlighting a conflict between Japanese who benefit from the largess of the industry and those who don\'t. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg via Getty Images (credit:Bloomberg via Getty Images)
General Views Of Satsumasendai And Ichikikushikino Cities As Residents Vote On Resumption Of Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s Sendai Nuclear Power Plant(02 of24)
A man walks along a shopping street in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, on Monday, Oct. 27, 2014. Residents near the Sendai nuclear plant in southern Japan vote on Oct. 28 whether to resume operations at the facility, highlighting a conflict between Japanese who benefit from the largess of the industry and those who don\'t. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg via Getty Images (credit:Bloomberg via Getty Images)
General Views Of Satsumasendai And Ichikikushikino Cities As Residents Vote On Resumption Of Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s Sendai Nuclear Power Plant(03 of24)
Traffic moves along the main street in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, on Monday, Oct. 27, 2014. Residents near the Sendai nuclear plant in southern Japan vote on Oct. 28 whether to resume operations at the facility, highlighting a conflict between Japanese who benefit from the largess of the industry and those who don\'t. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg via Getty Images (credit:Bloomberg via Getty Images)
General Views Of Satsumasendai And Ichikikushikino Cities As Residents Vote On Resumption Of Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s Sendai Nuclear Power Plant(04 of24)
Students ride their bicycles cross a river in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, on Monday, Oct. 27, 2014. Residents near the Sendai nuclear plant in southern Japan vote on Oct. 28 whether to resume operations at the facility, highlighting a conflict between Japanese who benefit from the largess of the industry and those who don\'t. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg via Getty Images (credit:Bloomberg via Getty Images)
General Views Of Satsumasendai And Ichikikushikino Cities As Residents Vote On Resumption Of Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s Sendai Nuclear Power Plant(05 of24)
A poster indicating the distance from Kyushu Electric Power Co.\'s Sendai Nuclear Power Plant is displayed in Ichikikushikino, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, on Monday, Oct. 27, 2014. Residents near the Sendai nuclear plant in southern Japan vote on Oct. 28 whether to resume operations at the facility, Ichikukushikino is now demanding a say in the fate of the two units, despite a convention limiting decision-making to a plant\'s host city, highlighting a conflict between Japanese who benefit from the largess of the industry and those who don\'t. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg via Getty Images (credit:Bloomberg via Getty Images)
General Views Of Satsumasendai And Ichikikushikino Cities As Residents Vote On Resumption Of Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s Sendai Nuclear Power Plant(06 of24)
Traffic moves along the main street in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, on Monday, Oct. 27, 2014. Residents near the Sendai nuclear plant in southern Japan vote on Oct. 28 whether to resume operations at the facility, highlighting a conflict between Japanese who benefit from the largess of the industry and those who don\'t. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg via Getty Images (credit:Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Views Of Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s Sendai Nuclear Power Plant(07 of24)
Protesters gather around a bonfire on the beach at their camp in front of Kyushu Electric Power Co.\'s Sendai Nuclear Power Plant at dusk in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, on Sunday, Oct. 26, 2014. Japan\'s operable commercial fleet of 48 reactors was shut for maintenance or safety checks after the March 2011 meltdowns at Tokyo Electric Power Co.\'s Fukushima Dai-Ichi station. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg via Getty Images (credit:Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Sakurajima Volcano(08 of24)
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Mt Kaimondake(09 of24)
(credit:Kurosaki San via Getty Images)
Molten lava erupts from Sakurajima Kagoshima Japan(10 of24)
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Japan, Kyushu, Ibusuki, municipal hot baths, women being burried(11 of24)
(credit:Sylvain Grandadam via Getty Images)
Tokyo Imperial Palace and Seimon Ishibashi Bridge(12 of24)
(credit:FUTURE LIGHT via Getty Images)
Japanese Shrine in the forest(13 of24)
(credit:William Chu via Getty Images)
Japan, Kagoshima Prefecture, Chiran, Samurai residence at roadside(14 of24)
(credit:Takahiro Miyamoto via Getty Images)
The Chiran Peace Museum(15 of24)
(credit:DAJ via Getty Images)
Hibiscus Bushes and Mt. Kaimondake(16 of24)
(credit:Akira Kaede via Getty Images)
Japan, Kagoshima Prefecture, Satsuma, Kagoshima Chuo Station, Building near ferris wheel, low angle view(17 of24)
(credit:Hirochika Setsumasa via Getty Images)
Blooming rapeseed field(18 of24)
(credit:Hiroyuki Uchiyama via Getty Images)
Mossy wall(19 of24)
(credit:Hiroyuki Uchiyama via Getty Images)
Landscape reflection in Lake Imuta(20 of24)
(credit:Hiroyuki Uchiyama via Getty Images)
Sendai Station, Kyushu(21 of24)
Sendai Station, Kyushu (credit:David McKelvey/Flickr)
Bullet Trains in Japan(22 of24)
Southbound Sakura arriving at Sendai Station, Kagoshima, Japan. (credit:Scott Heinley via Getty Images)
Sendai Sta.(23 of24)
(credit:foooomio/Flickr)
General Views Of Satsumasendai And Ichikikushikino Cities As Residents Vote On Resumption Of Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s Sendai Nuclear Power Plant(24 of24)
Kyushu Electric Power Co.\'s Sendai Nuclear Power Plant is seen through windows at the plant\'s public relations facility in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, on Monday, Oct. 27, 2014. Residents near the Sendai nuclear plant in southern Japan vote on Oct. 28 whether to resume operations at the facility, highlighting a conflict between Japanese who benefit from the largess of the industry and those who don\'t. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg via Getty Images (credit:Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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