Nuclear to get 'special attention' at G8

Monday, 21 April 2008

Japanese prime minister Yasuo Fukuda has said he will take leadership and give special attention to nuclear power when he chairs G8 talks in July this year.

 

Japanese prime minister Yasuo Fukuda

Fukuda was speaking to the 41st Annual Conference of the Japan Atomic Industry Forum (JAIF) on 15 April. A transcript of his words has just been released.

 

In the light of energy security concerns and "the imperative to prevent global warming," the world is turning again to nuclear energy. Fukuda said: "I think that such a movement, which is called the 'nuclear renaissance', is proof that our country's unwavering strategy to promote nuclear energy has been the right one."

 

Fukuda assured listening nuclear executives: "I, as the prime minister of Japan, will support your work and I will keep doing my best to promote nuclear power that is safe and steady."

 

"It is critical for us to strengthen the utilization of nuclear energy as a major source of power, along with our efforts for energy conservation and to develop renewable energy," he said, adding that he understood fast breeder reactors would be important to increasing the sustainability of nuclear power.

 

Leadership at the G8

 

Fukuda said that climate change would be one of the main topics for discussion at the next meeting of the Group of Eight industrialized nations (G8). That meeting is to take place in July at Toya Lake in Hokkaido, and as host, Fukuda is to chair the meeting. He said that as chair he would "take leadership in the discussions with participating nations, giving special attention to the importance of nuclear energy in our fight against global warming."

 

The G8 meeting will see leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK and the USA convene and talk in private before issuing joint statements. Comments on nuclear energy from the group in the past have included language to the effect that 'some of their members' supported nuclear power. With new pro-nuclear policies in the UK, only Germany and Italy remain opposed to the technology. However, pro-nuclear Silvio Berlusconi has recently been elected as Italian prime minister, and so Germany's nuclear-agnostic chancellor, Angela Merkel, could be left somewhat isolated in the group.