The government will overhaul the nation's energy policy and probably cut back on its plan to build 16 to 20 new nuclear plants by fiscal 2010 in the wake of mounting opposition to such facilities and a fatal atomic accident last September, trade chief Takashi Fukaya said Friday.
The Ministry of International Trade and Industry will launch a comprehensive study to review the energy policy and the nation's long-term outlook on energy supply and demand, Fukaya told a regular news conference.
Fukaya quoted Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi as telling an informal Cabinet meeting earlier in the day: "I reckon it is imperative for the government to work as a whole to deal with energy from the supply-side as well as to make various efforts on the demand-side."