Japan reveals plan to replace Russian energy

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Thursday that the nation would use nuclear power to help reduce its own and other countries’ dependence on Russian energy.

According to the PM, who is facing elections in July, Japan will address the “vulnerability of our own energy self-sufficiency” by broadening where it buys energy from. The country will promote renewables and use nuclear power to diversify its sources of generation.

“We will utilize nuclear reactors with safety assurances to contribute to worldwide reduction of dependence on Russian energy,” Kishida said, as quoted by Reuters.

“Restarting just one existing nuclear reactor would have the same effect as supplying one million tons of new LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) per year to the global market,” he added.

For more than a decade, energy-poor Japan has tapped Russian energy to cut its reliance on the Middle East and to make up for lost nuclear capacity. It has become more reliant on Russian gas since shutting down nuclear reactors after the 2011 Fukushima disaster in which an earthquake and tsunami triggered a meltdown, devastating the country’s northeastern region.

The nation, which imports 88% of its energy supply, has been hit by skyrocketing fuel prices.

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