Japan's nuclear power industry is among the world's most ambitious. Spurred by fears of global warming, planners envision a rapid expansion of plants, capacity and cutting-edge technologies.
But a series of radioactive leaks at the world's largest atomic plant following last week's killer earthquake in Niigata Prefecture has given the industry a public relations headache that will be difficult to cure.
"You cannot have nuclear power without public trust," said Jan Beranek, nuclear energy project leader for the Greenpeace environmentalist group. "And you cannot trust people who don't tell you the truth or who build nuclear plants in earthquake zones."