The number of students enrolled as nuclear energy majors at seven universities has fallen by 16 percent this year, a Kyodo News survey said Monday.

Among universities offering undergraduate and graduate programs in the nuclear sciences, only 223 students had enrolled for the 2012 academic year, compared with 264 last year.

"Students may be concerned whether the field of study is promising enough" in light of the nuclear crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 power plant in Fukushima Prefecture, an education ministry official acknowledged.