Fossil imports burn Japanese trade again

[FBaggins]

Japanese spending on imported fossil fuels soared in the latter part of last year, helping push the country to a trade deficit for the second year in a row. Emissions targets are under revision as most nuclear power plants remain closed.

A lack of domestic energy resources was a major economic and strategic factor in Japan's push to develop nuclear power through the 1970s and the same issue has returned to prominence with the prolonged nuclear shutdown. Only two of 50 large nuclear reactors are currently generating while the rest await a regulatory process that may - or may not - approve their restart.

Making up a large part of replacement power is LNG, imports of which were 11% higher in 2012 compared to 2011. However, the increase in demand for the fuel came with a corresponding regional price increase that pushed the total spending on LNG up by 25% to ¥6.0 trillion ($66 billion). This is about ¥2.5 trillion ($27 billion) more than levels seen before the March 2011 accident at Fukushima Daiichi, which preceded the progressive shutdown of nuclear generation.

http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NP_Fossil_imports_burn_Japanese_trade_again_2501131.html

Over $40 Billion additional... on just LNG. This doesn't include coal and fuel oil (both with similar stories)... nor does it include the economic impact of the fact that even with these dramatic expense increases, they aren't producing enough power.

It's not entirely unreasonable to assume that the entire trade deficit is due to shutting down their nuclear fleet.