Japan: nuclear policy to dent LNG demand [Gas in Transition]

Japan: nuclear policy to dent LNG demand [Gas in Transition]

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Natural Gas News
Japan: nuclear policy to dent LNG demand [Gas in Transition]

Summary

Twelve years after the Fukushima accident Japan produces only 6% of its electricity from nuclear reactors. That could be set to change, with profound implications for the world’s largest single LNG importer. [Gas in Transition, Volume 3, Issue 3] by: Martin Daniel

The recovery of Japan’s nuclear power sector since the Fukushima accident on March 11, 2011 has been glacially slow and punctuated by setbacks. 17,128 MW of reactor capacity was written off in the aftermath of the accident, leaving 33 potentially operable reactors with 31,679 MW of capacity. The country also had two reactors under construction and a sizeable slate of planned plants. However, for about four years after the accident Japan had no operating reactors. The first unit to resume operation after clearance from the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) was Sendai-1 in August 2015. That was followed by Sendai-2 in October 2015, then two more in 2016, one in 2017 and four in 2018. There was then a gap until Mihama-3 restarted generation in July 2021. These units, with total capacity of 9,486 MW, represent only 30% of the potentially operable capacity. The percentage of total electricity output produced by nucle...