Typically, reactors in Japan are brought into full commercial operation about 1 month after starting this adjustment, but because of the aftermath of the Fukushima-disaster, Hokkaido Electric Power Company withheld the final Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) check-up application.

When the utility filed it in early August 2011, the Number 3 reactor had been operating on trial and providing electricity at nearly full power for 5 months.

Industry minister Banri Kaieda told then Governor Harumi Takahashi that the prefecture's consent was vital, and that he would wait for their decision.

[12] The shutdown of the last active nuclear power plant caused a demonstration of thousands in Tokyo celebrating a "nuclear-free" Japan.

[13] Seismic research in 2011 showed that the March 11 quake was caused by the simultaneous movement of multiple active faults at the coast of the Pacific Ocean in northern Japan and that much bigger earthquakes could be triggered than the plants were built to withstand.