To underscore the severity of the situation, the world's largest private energy utility, Tokyo Electric Power, has even been forced to ask its customers to reduce demand as it looks to cover a massive shortfall in power generation caused by the closure of its 17 nuclear power plants on safety grounds.

With no date set for the reactors to resume operations, the closures will leave TEPCO short of 17 million kilowatts of power generating capacity, nearly one-third of its normal generating load.

TEPCO is the most nuclear-dependent of Japan's power companies, producing as much as 44% of its power from nuclear plants, compared with 38% for the Japanese power sector generally.

Many energy experts believe Japan's nuclear crisis could prove to be a boon for Australian energy suppliers such as coal and natural gas producers in the short term.

Although TEPCO insists that its aggressive plans for expansion of its nuclear power plants will not be adversely affected, analysts doubt if many of the 13 proposed new nuclear power plants will be built, and point to a crisis of confidence in nuclear power among the local governments where they would be built.