An advisory panel on Monday endorsed a plan by Chugoku Electric Power Co. to build a new nuclear reactor in Shimane Prefecture.

The Electric Power Development Coordination Council's green light sets the stage for the government to give the first nod to a nuclear power project since last September's accident at a uranium processing plant in Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture.

The third light-water nuclear reactor planned for Chugoku Electric's Shimane nuclear power station, would generate up to 1.37 million kw of electricity each hour, becoming one of the largest such reactors in Japan.

Chugoku Electric is expected to begin construction in March 2003 to make the reactor operational in March 2010.

But local residents -- who have expressed concerns about the expansion of the plant in the town of Kashima since the Tokai accident -- may step up their efforts to halt the project.

The advisory panel to the prime minister said it expects Japan's demand for electricity, which amounted to 816.9 billion kwh in fiscal 1999, to grow by an average 1.8 percent annually and reach 973.8 billion kwh in fiscal 2009.

To meet the anticipated demand and secure a stable supply of electricity, new facilities to generate 52.78 million kw of power each hour should be launched between fiscal 2000 and 2009, it said.

The council said it approved the nuclear reactor plan for Shimane Prefecture in consideration of the nation's electricity situation in the years ahead.