Hong Kong, China -- Several hundred people took part in a candlelight vigil in Hong Kong on Sunday to show support for Japan's earthquake victims and voice concerns over plans for nuclear expansion in the region.
Organizers Greenpeace are in staunch opposition to Hong Kong's plans to expand nuclear energy projects with partners on mainland China.
Hong Kong has a 25 percent stake in a nuclear power plant in Daya Bay in neighboring Guangdong province on the Chinese mainland.
It buys around 70 percent of the plant's output to supply the territory's massive energy needs.
The building of Daya Bay nuclear power plant in 1985 incited huge controversy with a million people, almost an eighth of the population, signing a petition opposing nuclear power.
A leak at the plant at Daya Bay last year, although reportedly minimal, reignited concerns about nuclear energy in and around Hong Kong.
"Hong Kong government still ongoing to consider a nuclear expansion as a solution for our future energy demand. It's a really bad signal because right now all the governments all over the world are actually announcing the suspension of their nuclear planning. So why is the Hong Kong government alone still considering it? It proves that we still have to focus on the topic and need the public support to push our government to suspend the planning," said Greenpeace climate campaigner, Prentice Koo.
Japan's nuclear crisis has delayed, not halted, power-hungry China's ambitious nuclear reactor-building plans.
China put on hold approvals this week for proposed plants and vowed to reconsider long-term plans for 28 new reactors, or 40 percent of all those being built worldwide, as a nuclear crisis ticked down in neighboring Japan.
But few expect that China, with its vast energy needs and pollution woes, will dramatically scale back its nuclear plans, despite concerns such as seismic weaknesses at future reactor sites and a slender regulatory infrastructure.
China's has long struggled to find the energy to drive economic growth, which the government says was around 10 percent last year, with a target of 7 percent a year over the period 2011 to 2015, so it cannot reject the nuclear power option. It has also committed itself to cutting the use of fossil fuels.
"It seems that we are sort of walking on a very tight rope here. If you switch to fossil fuel then you are producing more carbon dioxide and more pollution. But if you say you are switching to nuclear power, it seems clean. But on the other hand, when there's a crisis, the nuclear activity can spread throughout the world," said lawmaker Dr, Pan Pey-Chyou.
A group of high school students at Hong Kong's International school lit candles to show their support.
"I came here because of my family, and my Japanese side, I want them to know that Hong Kong has their support too," said Japanese student, Abi Lord, whose family in Japan was unhurt.
"I have some friends there and they came to Hong Kong because of the situation, so I'm just waiting so see how everything turns out," said Tiffany Chung from Korea.
"Because, Hong Kong they're trying to make a nuclear plant here and it could really affect us in a couple of generations if another meltdown happens. So we want to be educated and just raise awareness," said Flora Lieu, who said she had been taught about nuclear science in chemistry classes in school.
While wind and solar capacity will increase in the next decade, nuclear energy, widely considered more reliable, was seen as the best way to square the circle.
Several hundred people gather outside Hong Kong's government headquarters to commemorate Japan's earthquake victims and raise awareness of the dangers of nuclear energy.
CBS