"I recognise increased public fears currently surrounding the nuclear sector due to the events in Japan," said agency chief Nobuo Tanaka, a Japanese citizen whose country is struggling to limit a nuclear disaster at its quake-and tsunami-hit atomic energy plants.

"While I understand the public reaction, I am concerned about the effect it could have on support for this technology, given its important role in achieving both energy security and a low-carbon economy," he told reporters during a visit to Oslo.

According to an IEA report published last year, development of nuclear energy should account for six percent of the plan to slash CO2 emissions in half by 2050, which is necessary to keep global temperatures from rising more than two degrees Celsius.

The accident at Japan's Fukushima plant has prompted a debate on nuclear energy in many countries and cast a shadow on the sector's renewal.

Germany announced Tuesday the temporary shutdown of its seven oldest nuclear reactors while it conducts a safety probe in light of Japan's atomic emergency.

Switzerland on Monday suspended plans to replace its ageing nuclear power plants, while in France -- where nuclear makes up 75 percent of electricity production -- environmental groups have called for a referendum on the future use of nuclear power.

"I encourage patience until enough information is available for a full review of the problems at the Japanese facility so that we can learn lessons for the role of the nuclear power in the future," Tanaka told a news conference.

"Certainly reviewing the risks may take some time. Building nuclear power or expanding nuclear power may mean more costs and more delays. The nuclear option may not play as big a role as we predicted," he added.

In a report published Tuesday, it was estimated that Japanese oil consumption might increase by 200,000 barrels per day if the entire electricity output that usually comes from the country's 11 nuclear power plants was replaced by oil-fueled production.

Tanaka noted his home country had large stockpiles of oil, equal to some 170 days of consumption.

He added that "if necessary, we stand ready to use the strategic stockpiles."

Founded in 1974 at the height of the oil crisis, the IEA requires its members, which include most of the world's industrialised nations, to stockpile oil corresponding to at least 90 days' worth of their net imports.

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