TOKYO – With the pull of a lever, control rods were lifted Tuesday from the reactor core at a plant in southern Japan, ending a ban on nuclear power following meltdowns at Fukushima in the northeast that forced tens of thousands of people to leave their homes, most of them for good.

Crowded, energy-scarce Japan remains committed to nuclear power despite the March 2011 accident at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant and its messy aftermath, for economic, environmental and political reasons.

Polls show that most Japanese don’t want nuclear power, but public opinion has been trumped by leaders who say keeping the country’s 43 workable reactors offline forever would be too damaging economically.

Though two other nuclear reactors briefly resumed operations after the Fukushima meltdowns, Japan has gone completely without nuclear power for nearly two years under tighter new regulations. Reactors remained idle pending safety inspections.

Nuclear plants had provided nearly a third of power generation before they were taken offline, so Japan ramped up use of coal, oil and gas to compensate. That has increased energy costs and slowed Japan’s progress toward reducing emissions. Utility companies, meanwhile, face mounting costs from keeping nuclear plants idle.

Nuclear power is “indispensable,” industry minister Yoichi Miyazawa said Tuesday, pledging to put safety first as the Sendai No. 1 reactor resumed operations.

“It would be impossible to achieve all these three things simultaneously: Keep nuclear plants offline, while also trying to curb carbon dioxide and maintain the same electricity costs,” he said. “I hope to gain the public’s understanding of the situation.”