Imports of the chilled liquefied natural gas (LNG) by the world’s third largest economy rose to a record high in January as Japan continues to veer away from nuclear power dependency, shutting down on Monday another nuclear reactor damaged as a result of the earthquake and tsunami that hit the resource-poor country in March 2011.
In a preliminary report released by the Ministry of Finance on Monday, Japan’s LNG imports grew 28.2 per cent in the first month of the year to 8.15 million metric tons from a year ago.
This, as the country imported less of crude oil in January, down 2.1 per cent from a year ago, to 18.83 million kilolitres or 118 million barrels,connoting a consecutive third month downtrend of crude oil importation.
Japan, the world’s biggest LNG importer and the third-biggest oil user, mainly imports its LNG from Qatar and Malaysia. The January LNG imports of 8.15 million tonnes by far exceeded the 7.545 million tonnes set last August, government data showed.
Based from data compiled by the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan, Bloomberg News reported that Japan’s 10 regional power utilities consumed as much as 28.5 per cent of thermal power generation in the month of January alone. The federation noted the January operating rate of nuclear power plants was 10.3 per cent.
On Monday, Japan closed another nuclear reactor, bringing its total number of nuclear reactors to just two out of an original 54 in operation before the devastating March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The two nuclear reactors, according to Bloomberg News data, operate with a capacity of 2,268 megawatts, or 4.6 per cent of the total.
Yusuke Inoue, a spokesman for the utility firm Kansai Electric Power, Japan’s largest utility firm after Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), said the company closed its 870-megawatt No. 3 reactor at its Takahama nuclear plant in western Japan for a regular planned maintenance. The shutdown effectively leaves Kansai Electric with all its 11 atomic power plants offline.
Japan’s nuclear reactors have been closed for maintenance, safety checks and stress tests after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that caused uranium fuel meltdowns and radiation leaks at Tokyo Electric Power’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant.
Before the uranium spill and ultimate radiation leaks that continues to hound the local residents, Japan relied for one third of its power supply on nuclear energy.
