Countries seek nuclear stress tests, post-Japan disaster

Government officials from nearly 30 nuclear powered countries called for safety tests on Tuesday, after the disaster at Fukushima plant sparked concern over safety standards.

A majority of delegates supported stress tests to determine how well nuclear plants could withstand major disasters at a meet hosted under France G20.

The Fukushima accident has shaken us all and the need arose very quickly to draw lessons, to improve and lift our standards and cooperation on nuclear safety, French Environment Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet told at a news conference.

The Group of Eight leaders summit in France last month had agreed for tougher nuclear safety rules and standards, Reuters reported.

At present, there are no mandatory, international nuclear safety regulations.

Stress test or resilience tests are a first priority to identify vulnerabilities, Germany's Deputy Environment Minister, Ursula Heinen-Esser told Reuters.

The officials also agreed on the need to support the IAEA's role on nuclear safety.

“Countries should first respect existing international conference and then submit to mandatory peer reviews,” Swiss Energy Minister Doris Leuthard said.

When you think my authorities are good enough and the peer reviews are welcome, why don't we accept that it is mandatory? Why don't we give transparency to our populations? she asked.

GROWING CONCERNS

The public concern over the dangers of reactors is surging in Europe.

The European Union countries have already agreed to proceed with stress tests on the region's 143 reactors.

Germany recently decided to close down all its nuclear power plants in the future in the wake of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami that caused reactor meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

“France could benefit from Germany’s decision of closing down its nuclear energy by selling electricity to its biggest neighbor,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Tuesday.