Of that $16 per MMBTU, a nice dollar or three goes to the Japanese gov't
the very same government that supported research in marine uranium extraction that has demonstrated this process at a price on the order of $0.50 per MMBTU.
So they don't *have* to import expensive fuel; they just *like* to.
Their nuclear shutdown is utterly wrong, and opposed by all their competent, unpurchasable environmentalists and scientists.