The Niigata prefecture parliament today voted to restart Japan’s largest nuclear power plant, Kashiwasaki-Kariwa, fourteen years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster that saw the country shut down 54 reactors. The regional vote is the latest step in a long process to revive nuclear energy in resource-poor Japan to reduce its dependence on energy imports, despite public opposition in the Niigata prefecture. The plant will be operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co., which was also the operator of the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Before the Fukushima…