Japan's nuclear plant operator Kyushu Electric Power plans to restart its Sendai-1 power plant in the city of Satsumasendai in mid-August after a four-year break, the Kyodo news agency said Friday.

The company will start loading fuel into the plant on July 4 to prepare it for the restart, according to agency.

In 2011, Japan shut down all its nuclear power plants for safety checks after a powerful 9.0-magnitude earthquake and a resulting 50-foot-high tsunami devastated its Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, killing some 20,000 people.

The country's nuclear regulator, the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), said in late May that the Sendai plant, in the Kagoshima prefecture some 600 miles from Fukushima, had passed all the necessary safety tests and would be put back into operation soon.

The local community tried to block the restart in court in April, saying active volcanoes nearby could trigger another nuclear meltdown, but the court ruled that the power plant operator could go ahead with its plans.

Source: Sputnik News