Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda wants to restart two of the country's mothballed nuclear power stations.

Noda appealed to the Japanese public on Friday, saying the shuttered reactors in the western part of the country needed to be restarted to protect the economy.

All 50 Japanese nuclear plants have been closed since the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami struck in March 2011, causing the world's second-worst nuclear disaster in Fukushima.

Earthquake Japan Tsunami Japan