Japan’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, the world’s largest by total generating capacity, was restarted on Wednesday for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, according to its operator, despite ongoing public concerns.

In the initial phase, only one of the plant’s seven reactors has been brought back online.

The restart took place at 7:02 p.m. local time (12:02 GMT), Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) spokesman Tatsuya Matoba told Agence France-Presse.

Last month, the governor of the central-western prefecture of Niigata, where the plant is located, approved the restart, even though public opinion remains divided. A prefectural survey conducted in September found that 60 percent of residents opposed the restart, while 37 percent supported it.

Opposition to the reopening was also visible on Tuesday, when several dozen protesters—most of them elderly—braved cold weather and snowfall to march near the plant’s coastal entrance in protest against the restart.