Japanese local authorities approved the restart of the world's biggest nuclear plant on Friday for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima disaster.

Hideyo Hanazumi, governor of Niigata province where the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant is located, told a news conference he "would approve" the resumption, which will need final permission by Japan's nuclear regulator.

The plant was taken offline when Japan pulled the plug on nuclear power after a colossal earthquake and tsunami sent three reactors at the Fukushima atomic plant into meltdown in 2011.

However, the resource-poor nation now wants to revive atomic energy to reduce its heavy dependence on fossil fuels, achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and meet growing energy needs from artificial intelligence.

Fourteen reactors, mostly in western a

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