![]() ![]() Japan’s LNG importers have signed long-term contracts with U.S. LNG imports from the United States account for a small percentage of total imports, but they increased from 0.16 Bcf/d in 2017 to 0.3 Bcf/d in 2018, according to data from Japan’s Ministry of Finance. In 2016 through 2018, these three suppliers accounted for 60% of Japan’s LNG imports. LNG imports from Australia have grown in the past two years to account for more than one-third of the total imports, and they have displaced imports primarily from Malaysia and Qatar. Japan imports LNG from several countries worldwide. Japan relies on imported LNG to meet all of its natural gas demand and imports more LNG than any country, averaging 11 Bcf/d in 2016 through 2018. Note: Other includes Angola, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, France, Spain, Netherlands, Peru, South Korea, Singapore, and Trinidad. Energy Information Administration, Japan Ministry of Finance Generation from crude oil and petroleum products returned to pre-Fukushima levels by 2014 mainly as a result of relatively high crude oil prices, and it has since declined further. This amount is equivalent to 10% of Japan's power sector natural gas consumption and 6% of Japan’s LNG imports in 2018.Ĭonsumption of crude oil and petroleum products by power plants also increased between 20, with utilities spending about $30 billion each year for additional fossil fuel imports in the three years following the Fukushima accident. ![]() In 2019, their first full year of operation, EIA estimates that the restarted nuclear reactors will further displace Japan’s LNG imports by about 5 million metric tons per year (MMmt/y), or 0.7 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of LNG. Existing coal-fired power plants were already operating near full load therefore, utilities had to import large volumes of LNG to meet electricity demand.Īs the five nuclear reactors were gradually restarted in 2018, they began to offset natural gas-fired generation, and as a result, LNG imports decreased as the reactors reached full operation. In response to the 2011 Fukushima accident, Japan suspended operations at all nuclear reactors for mandatory safety inspections and upgrades, leaving the country with no nuclear generation from September 2013 to August 2015. Electricity generation produced by natural gas-fired plants in Japan has been declining annually from its peak in 2014 and is likely to decline further in 2019, while generation from nuclear units will likely increase. Japan now has nine operating nuclear units with a total electricity generation capacity of 8.7 gigawatts. Because Japan imports all of its natural gas in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG), increased nuclear power production is likely to reduce Japanese imports of LNG in the electric power sector by as much as 10% in 2019. As those reactors return to full operation, the resulting increase in nuclear generation is likely to displace generation from fossil sources, in particular natural gas. In 2018, Japan restarted five nuclear reactors that were shut down after the 2011 Fukushima accident. Energy Information Administration, based on International Energy Agency Japan’s government has set up a fund to promote Fukushima seafood and provide compensation in case sales fall due to safety concerns.Source: U.S. Nearby countries, including South Korea, China and Pacific Island nations, have also raised safety concerns. The plan has faced fierce protests from local fishing communities concerned about safety and reputational damage. Japanese officials say the water, currently stored in about a thousand tanks at the plant, needs to be removed to prevent accidental leaks in case of an earthquake and to make room for the plant’s decommissioning. Japan’s government announced plans in April 2021 to gradually release the treated but still slightly radioactive water following its dilution to what it says are safe levels. TEPCO says the voluntary tests are expected to continue for about two weeks ahead of mandatory pre-operation checks to be conducted by the Nuclear Regulation Authority, possibly in early July. The undersea tunnel and other key facilities are near completion. The diluted water then enters an undersea tunnel and is released into the ocean about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from the coast. Plant workers examined pumps and emergency shutdown equipment at the newly constructed seaside facility, which will dilute the treated water with large amounts of seawater. The tests at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant use fresh water instead of the treated water, operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings said. TOKYO (AP) - The operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant began tests on Monday of newly constructed facilities for discharging treated radioactive wastewater into the sea, a plan strongly opposed by local fishing communities and neighboring countries. ![]()
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