Despite the nuclear meltdown scare spawned by Japan's near-uranium leak, Rio Tinto said on Wednesday that it remains committed to stay in the uranium mining operations even as the global resource giant has admitted that growth in the sector could some snag over the next 10 years.

According to The Australian Mining, Rio Tinto chief executive Tom Albanese acknowledged that slow downs will hamper the sector's expansion and "there will probably be, over the next five years, an extended delay in some new construction as a consequence of studies, more community challenges in getting new facilities planned, permitted or built."

At present, Rio is regarded as the one of the biggest players in the global uranium production as the company maintains significant mining sites in Namibia and interests in Energy Resources of Australia.

Yet those holdings appear to soon encounter dwindling demands for uranium as a number of European countries decided to move away from utilising nuclear energy in light of the recent nuclear crisis in Fukushima, Japan when a massive quake and tsunami waves hit the nation on March 11.

With potential threats highlighted by the Japan nuclear problem, governments around the world seemed to be veering away from nuclear energy sources but Rio Tinto found an ally on Prof. Stephen Grano of the Institute for Mining and Energy Resources at the University of Adelaide.

Grano argued that the issue of using or ditching nuclear technology for energy purposes must be determined by all stakeholders, which he said should also include the industry, importers and investors and not only the politicians.

The Australian Mining quoted Grano as saying that the whole issue about nuclear energy "is not only political, it's economic ... and why should there be a political debate and not a debate on the benefits?"

Grano said that Australian mining firms engaged in the uranium business would benefit well in continuing their operations, which he said should be geared towards the export market.

On his part, Albanese insisted that the problem encountered by Japan on its Fukushima nuclear power plants should not deter uranium miners from sustaining their interest on the sector as he stressed that Rio Tinto intends "to stay in the uranium business."

While he admitted that the next 10 years will not be an easy sailing for the uranium mining sector, the Rio Tinto boss pointed out that "if I look forward to the next 10 years, I see underlying strength in demand for the products we produce."