The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to exmine direction of CCS safety measures, including CO2 injection method
On 27 February, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) presented the direction of the study of safety measures to be required of storage operators under the Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS) Project Law. The Subcommittee on the Safety of Carbon Dioxide Storage Business under the Industrial Structure Council will deliberate on matters including appropriate methods for injecting CO₂ into reservoirs located 1,000 to 3,000 meters underground, monitoring of reservoir temperature and pressure, and emergency response measures.
In considering “appropriate methods,” each project has its own CO2 storage site, surrounding conditions, and risks. It is also necessary to keep in mind that the pressure and speed of injection are not uniform. At the same day’s subcommittee meeting, METI also reported its intention to discuss risk assessment methods by this summer, based on the experience of Japan’s first large-scale CCS demonstration test, which achieved approx. 300,000 tons of CO2 injection from 2016 to 2019 off Tomakomai City, Hokkaido.
Accidents in CCS projects that lead to personal injury or property damage are caused by the destruction of pipelines that transport CO2. The causes of such accidents include collisions with vehicles and ships, anchoring of ships, and damage caused by construction work in the vicinity. There is also a risk that water entering the pipeline could dissolve CO₂ to form acid, leading to corrosion.
The direction of technical standards for pipelines was also presented. In addition to requiring that materials possess appropriate chemical and physical safety properties, measures will be mandated to remove moisture and prevent damage from vehicle contact. Operators will also be required to implement measures to prevent human exposure to leaked, high-concentration CO₂. Safety regulations for storage and pipeline transport operations must be enforced by 23 May 2026—within two years of the promulgation of the CCS Business Act.