The Fukui Prefectural Assembly on Thursday effectively gave the green light to restarting reactors 3 and 4 at the Oi nuclear power plant.

By a majority vote, the full assembly adopted an opinion paper that implicitly assumes the reactors will be restarted. The final step in acquiring local consent rests with Fukui Gov. Issei Nishikawa.

“I’ll make a decision on the basis of (the intentions of) the town of Oi and the prefectural assembly,” Nishikawa told reporters after the plenary meeting, adding that he is still not sure when he will make the decision.

While opinion paper does not explicitly state that the prefectural assembly gives its consent to put the reactors back online, its assertions are predicated on Kansai Electric Power Co. restarting them.

To ensure safety, the paper strongly demands that the central government take four measures, such as persuading the public that nuclear power plants are needed, compiling evacuation plans for wide areas, and improving the effectiveness of the safety plans.

Two other measures involve creating solutions for managing spent nuclear fuel and programs for revitalizing the communities around the Oi plant.

Oi’s assembly gave consent for the restarts on Sept. 8 and Oi Mayor Hiroshi Nakatsuka announced his approval on Monday.