Japan 's foreign ministry did a study on possible scenarios for an attack on the country's nuclear power plants in 1984, the Asahi Shimbun reported Sunday.

In a 63-page report summarizing findings from the study, the ministry assumed the country could lose all power if its nuclear reactors and their containment vessels were destroyed in such an attack. Radiation emissions resulting from such an attack could kill up to 18,000 people, the study found.

The Asahi didn't say whether this scenario was based on an assumption of one reactor being attacked, or more.

Nor did the Asahi say how it got the report, or cite any sources. The Asahi noted, however, that the government didn't release the study when it was completed, as it feared it would spur anti-nuclear-power sentiment.

The Asahi said the foreign ministry undertook the study after Israel attacked an Iraqi nuclear plant in 1981. It is the first such government study to come to light.

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