75% of Japanese firms want an end to nuclear power

A poll of large Japanese companies carried out by Reuters found nearly three-quarters the 286 respondents support the abandonment nuclear power.Twenty-seven percent were opposed to the idea of ditching nuclear power while 18 percent fully supported ending it. A 55 percent majority backed abandoning nuclear power as long as alternative energy resources were secured.

"Companies are already coping with the situation where all nuclear reactors have gone off-line so the survey's result seems to reflect such reality," Taro Saito, director of economic research at NLI Research Institute in Tokyo, told Reuters.

"We could live without nuclear power if we wanted but we would then have to rely on thermal power until alternative sources are found. The question is whether companies are ready to put up with higher costs and lower growth."

Japan's biggest business lobby, Keidanren, has voiced worries that a rise in electricity costs due to abandoning nuclear power could prompt Japanese companies to relocate overseas, costing jobs and growth. Potential power shortages could also undermine Japan's fragile economic recovery.

The latest poll, taken alongside the monthly Reuters Tankan survey, suggests big companies are less wedded to nuclear power than Keidanren's position suggests.