Once-idled Japanese coal mines back in business

Japan has found a silver lining in the cloud of nuclear plant shutdowns following last year’s Fukushima disaster.

Japan Times Online reports that Hokkaido coal mines are in demand again as utilities grow increasingly dependent on coal-fired power plants: output at the biggest coal producer in Japan, Hokkaido’s Ishikari coal field, is at an all-time high.

Hokkaido relies on two nuclear reactors for 40% of its electricity but the reactors have been idled indefinitely. Since Fukushima all but one of Japan’s 54 nuclear reactors have been shuttered for stress tests ordered by the Japanese government; the only reactor currently operating is slated to close for inspection in May.

That is forcing Hokkaido’s utilities to look to coal:

Hokkaido Electric requested that production be cranked up to maximum capacity at Bibai’s Nishimukizawa strip mine shortly after the nuclear crisis erupted, according to Takemi Ouchi, president of mine operator Sanbi Mining Co. President.

(The Naie thermal plant) and the nearby Sunagawa thermal plant use coal mined in Hokkaido and are forecast to consume a combined 1.2 million tons in roughly the year through Saturday — exceeding Hokkaido Electric’s initial projections by 50 percent.