A Japanese utility has scrapped plans to build a nuclear plant near the site of a nuclear disaster two years ago.

Tohoku Electric Power Co said today that strong protests from local communities as well as radiation leaks at the proposed site of the new power station make the project unworkable.

The company wanted to build a plant north of the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant that was destroyed by a tsunami that struck after a huge earthquake on March 11, 2011.

But the utility said land acquisition and environmental surveys could not be completed due to contamination.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe supports resumption of reactors deemed safe. The company still plans to build a new reactor at an existing plant. Japan has 50 workable reactors and 12 in the pipeline.