Some three months since the colossal earthquake and tsunami in eastern Japan, stricken areas are getting on track for recovery with local industrial production capacity having been restored to as much as 90 percent of pre-disaster levels.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. has announced plans to ensure stable cooling of reactors in its crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant within six to nine months. But the situation does not warrant optimism due to various unpredictable difficulties.

Amid the international community's deepening concern about nuclear power safety, the Group of Eight leaders held a summit in Deauville, France, in late May, and asked all countries operating nuclear power facilities, including emerging nations, to use relevant guidelines issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).