Sarkozy calls international meeting on nuclear security
While the operation to make the stricken Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant safe has been delayed in Japan, Nicolas Sarkozy is suggesting an international meeting on nuclear security.
The French President announced his initiative in Japan, where he arrived on Thursday. He called for a meeting in Paris with the heads of atomic agencies of the G20 countries, to work out international standards of nuclear security. The talks could take place in May.Sarkozy is the first foreign leader to visit Japan after the devastating earthquake and tsunami hit the country on March 11.Both leaders, President Sarkozy and Prime Minister Kan, agreed that nuclear power will top the agenda at the next G8 summit in Nice. France assumed the presidency of the G8 in 2011, and Sarkozy says the group is aiming to release a communique on nuclear issues, Kyodo News reports.Meanwhile, Japanese workers are trying to cover the damaged reactors at Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant with a high-tech resin, designed to dry and harden, to prevent further radiation leaks. But rain is hampering their efforts.The level of radiation in seawater near the facility is now 4,500 times higher than normal – the highest figures recorded in the sea since the beginning of the nuclear crisis. Experts think it may be caused by highly-radioactive cooling water leaking from the plant.Japan's Prime Minister now says the plant must be decommissioned as a result of the damage caused to it by the quake and tsunami three weeks ago.
