About 20 demonstrators carrying anti-nuclear signs disrupted the closed meeting of government agency representatives and energy officials who were there to discuss plans to restart Japan's nuclear plants for the first time since last year's Fukushima disaster.

The meeting could be observed by the public from a television monitor in a separate room, something the demonstrators say symbolized the government's intent to bring back nuclear plants without public input, according to CNN.

"They shut out the citizens," said Ayako Sakine, a Greenpeace member and one of the 20 demonstrators. "This is unforgivable."

Masahi Goto, a professor at the Shibaura Institute of Technology and a panel member in Wednesday's meeting, boycotted the session when he learned the public would be shut out.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, Japan's nuclear watchdog, presented a draft report at the meeting. It approves the stress test results from Kansai Electric Power Company, which owns the two reactors in question: No. 3 and No. 4 units at the Oi plant in Fukui prefecture, western Japan. Kansai Electric said the stress tests show the reactors are able to withstand an earthquake 1.8 times stronger than the maximum presumed quake for the region, as well as a tsunami wave up to 11.4 meters high.

But an affirmative vote by the panel is just the first step in restarting the two plants. They won't be brought back online until the Nuclear Safety Commission, another nuclear watchdog, reviews input from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Japanese experts.