Tepco will cancel its plans to export nuclear expertise, as it has to focus on stabilizing the Fukushima plant, which was at the centre of a nation-wide crisis after last year’s quake and tsunami.

The decision is a blow to Japan’s famous policy of promoting its nuclear technology abroad, the Japanese press comments.

Tepco will cancel its participation in a program meant to supply and run two nuclear reactors at a plant in Vietnam, according to reports by the Mainichi Shimbun.

The project, which aims to promote nuclear exports, is undertaken by International Nuclear Energy Development, a public company set up in 2010, heavy machinery producers, and utilities, including Tepco.

“It is impossible” to abandon the domestic task and promote exports, Tepco president Naomi Hirose was quoted as saying. “Our atomic power engineers still need to do a lot more to stabilise and decommission the reactors” at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant, he said.