In November 2014 Ito approved the restart of the Sendai Nuclear Power Plant, which was shut down following the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. This paved the way for the restart of two of the plant's reactors in August and October 2015, the first in the country to be restarted and the only reactors in operation at the time of the election. Local consent to the restart was also given by the Kagoshima Prefectural Assembly and the Satsumasendai city assembly, where the plant is located. The decision was met with protests locally and on a national level, with disruption caused at the prefectural assembly at the time of the vote and former Prime Minister Naoto Kan rallying protestors outside the plant at the time the first reactor was restarted. A series of earthquakes in neighbouring Kumamoto Prefecture in April 2016 caused further concerns about the plant's safety.