The drop in construction work on new reactors may reflect waning interest in nuclear after the shutdown of the Japan reactor a year ago

The number of new nuclear power stations entering the construction phase fell dramatically last year compared with previous years, in the aftermath of the incident at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan last March.

From 2008 to 2010, construction work began on 38 reactors around the world, but in 2011-12, there were only two construction starts, according to Steve Thomas, professor of energy studies at the University of Greenwich.

The fall was interpreted by some as evidence of rapidly waning interest in nuclear power after the forced shutdown of the Fukushima reactor a year ago, in which no one was killed but thousands of people were forced to flee their homes. But others argued it was merely a temporary pause, and predicted the "nuclear renaissance" would continue.

Rebecca Harms, president of the Greens/EFA group in the European parliament, called on countries to abandon their nuclear ambitions, saying Fukushima had shown that the safety of reactors could not be guaranteed.

"We failed to learn the lessons of Chernobyl – otherwise Fukushima would not have happened," she told a small demonstration outside the European parliament in Brussels. The former governor of Fukushima prefecture, Eisaku Sato, repeated her call: "We are living with the evacuation. We believe there should be no more people like us."

In Europe, Germany has vowed to phase out atomic plants and Italy and Switzerland have also voted against nuclear energy, while public opinion in some other countries is uncertain. Jo Leinen MEP told an audience at the Friends of Europe group in Brussels: "A nuclear renaissance in Europe? I can't see it."

But Connie Hedegaard, Europe's climate chief, said nuclear power would continue to be part of the European and world energy mix for years. "The reality will be that it will still play a part," she said. "It will probably not grow as much as people thought it would before Fukushima. Many countries will still move forward [with nuclear plans] but with an increased focus on security."

Christoph Frei, secretary general of the World Energy Council, told the Guardian that his organisation's research showed there was still a need for and interest in nuclear power around the world, with many countries including the UK intending to push forward with plans for new plants. "The nuclear renaissance is continuing," he said.

The true lesson of Fukushima, according to Patrick Moore, honorary chairman of Environmentalists for Nuclear Energy Canada, was not of nuclear risk but of nuclear safety, as there had been no fatalities and appeared to be no long-term damage. He said: "There is no good reason to be afraid of nuclear power. It is not harming anyone and it did not harm anyone in Fukushima."

Before the Fukushima incident, nuclear power generators had been enjoying a return to favour in many parts of the world. The Chernobyl accident in 1987 chilled investment in nuclear around the world for well over a decade, but in recent years that changed – as countries began to engage with the problem of climate change, and as rapidly developing economies sought ways to satisfy their hunger for energy, the technology came under serious consideration again.

Many dozens of new reactors were planned, and the nuclear industry rebranded itself as an environmentally friendly technology, arguing that as reactors do not produce carbon dioxide they should be seen as part of the solution to climate change, and could provide back-up to intermittent renewable energy such as wind and solar power.

After Fukushima, the shockwaves were also felt beyond phase-outs by European governments. Kuwait pulled out last month of a contract to build four reactors, Venezuelan froze all nuclear development projects and Mexico dropped plans to build 10 reactors.

"Fukushima was like the spark that lit the debate," said Tobias Münchmeyer of Greenpeace in Germany. "The shocked German public forced Chancellor Merkel either to phase out nuclear or to phase out herself. When the government took eight reactors offline it was surprising to some people that we did not have blackouts or price spikes. It cost a bit, but it also stimulated growth in renewable [energy] and we now have 300,000 jobs in renewables compared to 30,000 in nuclear."

Moore claimed, however, that Germany was already in the process of building 13GW of fossil fuel power stations and was making plans for 10GW more – altogether, as much power as is generated from 23 reactors – in order to make up for the shortfall in nuclear energy.

Protests against proposed plants already under construction have intensified in India, which plans to quadruple nuclear capacity by 2020 and triple it again to generate 25% of its electricity by 2030.

Mass protests and hunger strikes by social movements led to deaths, injuries and riots in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Jaitapur. Construction of two plants in Tamil Nadu was delayed and West Bengal dropped plans for six Russian reactors following protests. Last month India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, blamed US and German groups for whipping up protests.

"We have been carrying out hunger strikes, rallies, public meetings, seminars, conferences, and other demonstrations such as shaving our heads, cooking on the street, burning the models of the nuclear plants. This struggle has been going on for the past 197 days and the morale of the people is still very very high," said S P Udayakumar, co-ordinator of the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy.

"This is a classic David-Goliath fight between the 'ordinary citizens' of India and the Indian government supported by the multinational companies, imperial powers and the global nuclear mafia. They promise nuclear power, development, atom bombs, security and superpower status. We demand risk-free electricity, disease-free life, unpolluted natural resources, sustainable development and a harmless future," he said.

China's stance on nuclear is being keenly watched. Before Fukushima, the Chinese government had plans to add 40GW of nuclear by 2020. But construction plans in several provinces were plagued with protests about safety and lack of consultation.

Jiang Kejun, a director of the Energy Research Institute in Beijing, said: "Globally, I think Fukushima could be a good thing for nuclear power. We can learn a lot from that. We can't be smug or too clever."

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, 45 countries are now considering embarking on nuclear power programmes, as Vietnam, Bangladesh, United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Belarus are likely to start building this year and Jordan and Saudi Arabia following in 2013.

In the UK, strong opposition to nuclear power has soared since the Fukushima disaster, according to a recent Guardian/ICM poll. In early 2010, 39% of people said they would be strongly opposed to a new nuclear power station being built near their home but in February 2012 that rose to 61%. However, an Ipsos Mori poll asking a different question – how favourable people felt towards nuclear power – found that support for nuclear had rebounded to pre-Fukushima levels of 40% in favour by December 2011.

Internationally, 62% of citizens in 24 countries said they were opposed to nuclear power, in an Ipsos Mori poll conducted in June 2011, three months after the Fukushima catastrophe. Only India, Poland and the US had majorities supporting nuclear power, with the UK evenly split, China, Russia and France clearly opposed and Germany very strongly opposed.

(By Fiona Harvey, John Vidal and Damian Carrington, Guardian.co.uk, 08/03/2012)