Proposed by Chair of G20 in a visit to Japan. France leads the way in putting forward new international standards.
Japan nuclear crisis: Sarkozy calls for global rules
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called for clear international standards on nuclear safety in light of the ongoing crisis at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Speaking in Japan, he proposed that nuclear safety authorities from the G20 countries discuss the issue in May.
Radiation detected in the sea near the stricken plant has again risen steeply.
Meanwhile, the UN has advised Japan to consider expanding the evacuation zone around the reactors.
Mr Sarkozy is the first foreign leader to visit Japan following the earthquake and tsunami that hit the country on 11 March.
The French president said he wanted to see international standards on nuclear energy established by the end of the year, and that France would ask G20 nuclear delegates to lay the groundwork for a special meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in June.
"The problem is more about establishing safety norms than it is about the choice of nuclear energy, for this there is no alternative right now," Mr Sarkozy was quoted as saying by Reuters.
"We must address this anomaly that there are no international safety norms for nuclear matters. We want international standards because the world is a village and what happens in Japan can have consequences elsewhere."
Yes, indeed, the release of radioactivity from the six defective reactors will take months to staunch, mainly by wasting people's lives in the effort to put a concrete sarcophagus around each.
ReplyDeleteWhat radioactivity has escaped since the beginning and unti then (if they ever manage to seal it off tightly enough at all!!!) will stay with the Japanese and to a lesser extent the rest of the world measurably for THOUSANDS of years, causing birth defects and cancer.
You may also be interested in how to treat radioactively contaminated drinking water:
http://crisismaven.wordpress.com/2011/03/22/dangers-properties-possible-uses-and-methods-of-purification-of-radioactively-contaminated-drinking-water-e-g-in-japan/
Maybe someone wants to help with Japanese and other languages?