The March 11 earthquake-triggered tsunami that devastated Japan's northeast coast slammed into the plant, causing reactors to overheat in a crisis that its operator has said will not be stabilised until at least year's end.

Katsuya Okada, secretary general of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), said the government would have to check all nuclear installations and that, "based upon that, we will have to review our energy policy".

"We cannot do without nuclear energy, but we have to think about the way nuclear plants are built and the speed of their construction," Okada, the party's number two after Prime Minister Naoto Kan, told foreign journalists.

"But people now have heated feelings, so we will discuss the future of Japanese energy after Fukushima's situation has stabilised."

Resource-poor Japan, highly dependent on Middle Eastern oil, meets about one third of its energy needs with nuclear power, but its high-tech companies are also world leaders in many environmental and energy-saving technologies.

Asked about the tens of thousands of people who had to evacuate their homes, Okada said: "We have to be very careful. If you ask people who had to evacuate about what they want, the first thing they will answer is 'to go home'.

"So we have to be careful to not dash their hopes. We must do our best to provide them with housing and food".

Okada also voiced regret over reports of discrimination against the "nuclear refugees" by others fearful of second-hand exposure to radiation.

"It's not a rampant phenomenon, but we politicians have to tell people that is not a good thing to do," he said, adding that other people had come to offer them help and to buy those local farm produce that have tested to be safe.

Speaking about the wider crisis, Japan's worst since World War II, he said: "There is a very long battle ahead, and it's a time where Japanese have to show solidarity."

"There is anxiety about the future of the Japanese economy, with the instability of the electricity supply, and the fear of companies being displaced. We must come out with very aggressive measures.

"Japan must rise from this crisis."

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