Japan's 'Nuclear Alley' conflicted over reactors

International inspectors are visiting a rugged Japanese bay region so thick with reactors it is dubbed "Nuclear Alley," where residents remain deeply conflicted as Japan moves to restart plants idled after the Fukushima disaster.

(Picture: Kansai Electric Power Co's Ohi nuclear power plant No. 3, right, and No. 4 reactors are seen in Ohi, Fukui prefecture, north of Tokyo.)

The local economy depends heavily on the industry, and the national government hopes that "stress tests" at idled plants _ the first of which is being reviewed this week by the International Atomic Energy Agency _ will show they are safe enough to switch back on.

But last year's tsunami crisis in northeastern Japan with meltdowns at three of the Fukushima reactors has fanned opposition to the plants here in western Fukui prefecture, a mountainous...