Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has abundant political capital and should declare an end to nuclear power, as the public mood for such a decision couldn't be better, predecessor Junichiro Koizumi said Tuesday.

"Nobody has had more favorable conditions to achieve a nuclear-free option than Abe," the popular ex-prime minister said in a rare news conference at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo. "For first time in a long time, the Japanese are ready to support a project and I want him to use his strong political clout."

Tuesday's event was Koizumi's first official press conference since the Mainichi Shimbun reported in late August his call for Japan to immediately cease its reliance on atomic energy.