Updated

A power plant has received the first shipment of reprocessed nuclear reactor fuel sent to Japan since the 2011 disaster that forced it to shut down reactors.

The fuel, a mixture of uranium and plutonium oxide called MOX, arrived aboard a freighter from France on Thursday at the Takahama nuclear power station on the Sea of Japan coast. Operators of the plant are hoping to use the fuel once they get the go-ahead to restart their reactors.

Virtually all of Japan's nuclear reactors have been closed for safety checks and upgrades since the tsunami and earthquake in March 2011 touched off meltdowns and explosions at a plant in Fukushima, northeast of Tokyo. The government recently announced new regulations that if met would allow nuclear plants to resume operations.