The Fukushima No. 1 power plant crisis has turned the nation's long-term energy policy on its head and probably signals the start of a drastic reduction in the use of atomic power.

The impact of the crisis has spread to other countries. Both Germany and Belgium declared plans to shed their nuclear power plants.

Antinuclear experts and activists in South Korea, China and Taiwan who attended the Global Conference for Nuclear Power-Free World in Yokohama in mid-January meanwhile raised concerns about the atomic power policies of their own governments.