Protests greet Japan's nuclear power

TOKYO, July 16 (UPI) -- A decision to restart nuclear reactors in Japan in the wake of the Fukushima disaster is an insult to the nation, a protest leader said Monday.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda last month gave approval for the restart of the Ohi nuclear power facility, which was shut down in the wake of the March 2011 disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants. Fukushima melted down after a magnitude-9 earthquake and resulting tsunami.

Kenzaburo Oe, awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1994, spoke to the thousands of people gathered Monday in Tokyo to protest the nuclear restart.

"The government allowed the Ohi nuclear reactors to restart and it's going to allow more reactors to restart," he was quoted by Bloomberg News as saying. "We feel we are insulted by the government."

Japan in May shut its last operating nuclear reactor for maintenance, leaving the country without nuclear power for the first time in more than 40 years.

The country's crude and fuel oil demand for power generation is expected to be around 700,000 barrels per day from July through September because of the nuclear power shortage.