Japanese utility Kansai Electric Power has become the first since the 2011 Fukushima disaster to advance plans to build a new commercial nuclear power plant in Japan as the country looks to reactors for energy security, economic growth and reducing carbon emissions.

Kansai Electric said on 22 July it would resume a survey into whether it could build a new reactor at the existing Mihama nuclear power station site in Fukui prefecture in western Japan.

The survey was suspended after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that triggered the country’s worst nuclear accident at Tokyo Electric Power Company’s (Tepco) Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear station north of Tokyo.

The Japan Times said that if the survey finds it feasible to build a new reactor at Mihama, Kansai Electric is expected to submit an application to the Nuclear Regulation Authority and “accelerate related moves”.