TOKYO — Japan moved closer to reviving part of its moribund nuclear power industry on Friday, as a regional government agreed to restart two reactors at a plant that is among a dozen nationwide waiting to be switched back on following the Fukushima disaster three and a half years ago.

The decision by the authorities in Kagoshima Prefecture, on the southern island of Kyushu, cleared an important obstacle to restarting the reactors, which were declared safe by Japan’s new nuclear regulatory agency in September but have been awaiting the go-ahead from politicians.

Japan’s 48 operable commercial reactors have been caught in a seesawing debate over safety since the triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in March 2011, and none are currently producing power. The two reactors in Kagoshima, at the Sendai Nuclear Power Plant, would be the first to be brought back online under safety standards introduced last year.

A restart at Sendai would smooth the way for others around the country. Electric utilities are seeking safety certifications for 20 reactors at 13 plants, less than half the number that were in operation before Fukushima. Others are considered too old to upgrade, or are too close to the disaster zone, in the country’s northeast, to be politically acceptable. Tens of thousands of Fukushima residents remain unable to return home.