Japan took the final step to allow the world's largest nuclear power plant to resume operations with a regional vote on Monday, a watershed moment in the country's return to nuclear energy nearly 15 years after the Fukushima disaster.

Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, located about 220 kilometres northwest of Tokyo, was among 54 reactors shut after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi plant in the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

Since then, Japan has restarted 14 of the 33 that remain operable, as it tries to wean itself off imported fossil fuels. Kashiwazaki-Kariwa will be the first operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco), which ran the doomed Fukushima plant.

On Monday, Niigata prefecture's assembly passed a vote of confidence on Niigata governor Hideyo Hanazumi, who backed the restart last month, effectively allowing for the plant to begin operations again. While lawmakers voted in support of Hanazumi, the assembly session, the last for the year, exposed the community's divisions over the restart, despite new jobs and potentially lower electricity bills.

"This is nothing other than a political settlement that does not take ⁠into account the will of the Niigata residents," an assembly member opposed to the restart told fellow lawmakers as the vote was about to begin.

Outside, around 300 protesters stood in the cold holding banners reading "No Nukes", "We oppose the restart of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa" and "Support Fukushima".

"Is Tepco qualified to run Kashiwazaki-Kariwa?" a protester asked into the microphone, with the crowd yelling: "No!"

Tepco is considering reactivating the first of seven reactors at the plant on January 20, public broadcaster NHK reported.

"We remain firmly committed to never repeating such an accident and ensuring Niigata residents never experience anything similar," said Tepco spokesman Masakatsu Takata. (Reuters)