Resource-poor Japan relies on nuclear energy for 30 percent of its needs but the government's hopes to construct more reactors have been set back by strong opposition from host communities.

"If we don't shed light on problems of the past, nuclear energy usage will not have any future," said Takashi Imaii, president of the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum industry group.

"We won't win citizens' trust if new problems occur because we didn't learn the lessons of the past," Imaii told the opening of the forum's annual convention in Aomori, the nuclear industry's hub in northern Japan.

Since last month, nuclear companies have come forward with revelations of a series of incidents.

In one case, Hokuriku Electric Power Co. admitted it failed to report a 15-minute uncontrollable chain reaction in a June 1999 incident.

Although no one was hurt, it took place three months before one of Japan's worst nuclear accidents, when two workers were killed and 600 people exposed to radiation, also due to an uncontrollable chain reaction.

"Safety is the top priority. Without it, there is no energy," said Shingo Mimura, governor of Aomori prefecture.

Anne Lauvergeon, president of French nuclear group Areva, which has long-standing links with Japanese power firms, said that the industry needed to do more to address public concerns.

"In Japan this isn't easy, but it isn't anywhere else either," she said.

She said that transparency was key.

"It's not enough to say again that safety at reactors is high and that nuclear energy is one solution to the problem of global warming, as fears remain strong in people's hearts," she said.

"Governments must show the way and the industry must be transparent," she said.

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