French minister in Fukushima

Wednesday, 22 February 2012

The revival of the Japanese nuclear sector will depend on the efforts of workers at Fukushima Daiichi, French industry and energy minister Eric Besson said during a visit to the site.

Besson addresses workers at Fukushima Daiichi

Besson visited the stricken nuclear power plant during a two-day official visit to Japan. Accompanied on his tour by an AFP journalist, Besson was later reported to have said that nuclear power was too important an energy source to abandon. "I come from a country that produces most of its electricity from nuclear power," he told workers at the site. "We continue to believe in a civilian nuclear energy program operated in the safest possible way. We are relying on you to revive this sector."

Besson is the first overseas minister to visit the Fukushima Daiichi site since the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan's north-eastern coast almost one year ago. On finishing his visit to Japan his itinerary takes him to China, where he is due to visit the construction site of China's first EPR units at Taishan.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News