Japan's Sendai Reactors Restart to Cut LNG, Oil Use

The scheduled restart of Japan's first reactor in nearly two years next month would save around 850,000 tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNGLF) (LNG) per year, according to Reuters calculations based on data from the country's industry ministry.

Kyushu Electric Power is set to restart one of its Sendai reactors in southwestern Japan in August, pending a final sign-off by the nuclear regulator.
 

It would be the first restart of a reactor in Japan after the Fukushima meltdowns of 2011 led to the eventual closure of all of the nation's reactors in September 2013 for checks and costly safety upgrades. The shutdown of an energy source that supplied about a third of Japan's power forced utilities to burn record amounts of fossil fuels, pushing them into losses.

Fukushima was the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl 25 years earlier and turned the Japanese public against atomic power even as electricity become more expensive. Kyushu Electric aims to restart the Sendai No. 1 reactor in mid-August and the No. 2 reactor in mid-October, each having a capacity of 890 megawatts. With both reactors operating, Kyushu says it will save about 15 billion yen ($120 million) in fuel costs per month, mainly from using less oil and LNG.

Any restart is likely to be unpopular, with opinion polls showing a consistent majority opposing restarts. That is despite a 25 percent increase in household power bills since Fukushima, according to a recent government Energy White Paper.

Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori