Japan to begin generating nuclear energy again in 2015

TOKYO, Japan

Japan plans to restart using nuclear power for electricity generation in May 2015, according to the Japanese Atomic Energy Agency. 

The country's nuclear energy production had been almost entirely halted since the 9.0-magnitude Tohoku earthquake and ensuing tsunami which led to the Fukushima accident in 2011.

The cost of ceasing to use nuclear energy was high.

"Japan imports virtually all its fossil fuels. As a result of greater fossil fuel use and higher international oil prices during the past few years, Japan spent 60 percent more for fossil fuel imports in 2013 compared with 2010, an increase of $270 billion over three years," according to a report by the U.S. Energy Information Agency in Washington.

"This reversed Japan's trade surplus and created a widening trade deficit. Utilities have passed on some of the high cost of power production to consumers, and electricity prices have risen at least 20 percent," the EIA said. 

Japan's new energy policy issued in 2014 prioritizes energy security, economic efficiency, and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The government believes that the use of nuclear energy is necessary to help reduce current energy supply strains and alleviate high electricity prices, the EIA concluded. 

The Japan's Nuclear Regulatory Agency, NRA, and local authorities approved the Kyushu Electric's Sendai Units 1 and 2 in southwestern Japan in November 2014 and the units are expected to restart operating in May 2015. 

The EIA stated that Japan has previously been one of the world's largest producers of nuclear-generated electricity and ranked as the third-largest nuclear power generator in the world behind the United States and France in 2010.