"If you ask governments who are the ones who are going to decide eventually, I have no doubt that the majority of the world will continue to use nuclear," said Blix, a former chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) who also led the United Nations weapons inspection team in Iraq prior to the US-led invasion in 2003.

The Fukushima accident, brought on by the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, has sparked a renewed global debate about the safety of nuclear power, with widely differing opinions.

The German government for instance decided last month to impose a three-month moratorium on extending the lifespans of the nation's nuclear reactors, while an official British report recommended Wednesday that the country stick to its plan to build a new series of nuclear reactors.

"Fukushima is a bump in the road and will also lead to a further strengthening of the safety of nuclear power," Blix, a Swede, told AFP Wednesday on the sidelines of a global sustainability conference in Stockholm.

"There were changes after Three Mile Island," he pointed out, referring to a nuclear plant accident in the US state of Pennsylvania 1979.

"There were further things happening after Chernobyl, and there will be further changes after Fukushima, and nuclear will be better and safer in the future," insisted Blix, a lawyer and former Swedish foreign minister who led the IAEA for 16 years until he was replaced at the helm by Egyptian Mohamed ElBaradei in 1997.

"You have lots of development in the fourth generation of nuclear power plants that do not need any active cooling," he pointed out, insisting that "like in other areas, you are going to have development and technology is going to improve."

earlier related report
Japan will not abandon nuclear power: PM
Tokyo (AFP) May 18, 2011 - Nuclear power will remain a key part of Japan's energy policy, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Wednesday, but the government will review oversight of the industry after the worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl.

The premier said a special commission would investigate the crisis that unfolded after a monster tsunami knocked out the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant's cooling systems on March 11, leading to reactor meltdowns and radiation leaking into the environment.

"The investigation commission on the accident, which will start meeting soon, should discuss the way Japan administers its nuclear policies," Kan said, adding that he hoped "to lay a basic direction for a thorough reform".

But Kan backed the principle of nuclear power, telling reporters: "If we come up with new ways to use atomic power more safely... we will naturally utilise atomic power further.

"In the first place a thorough review is needed. Everything should start from there."

Kan announced that reactors currently suspended for routine check-ups across the nation would be allowed to resume operations if they are deemed safe.

But local opposition to restarting those reactors has grown since the disaster. The world's number three economy generates about 30 percent of its power from nuclear plants.

"Until now, Japan's energy policies were built with two major pillars of fossil fuel and nuclear power," Kan said. "In addition to that, we must add two more pillars of natural (renewable) energy and energy saving."

Workers briefly entered a reactor building at the crippled Fukushima plant Wednesday to measure radiation levels and check for damage, the operator said.

The investigation was part of work by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) to bring reactors at the complex to a stable cold shutdown by January at the latest.

TEPCO said on Tuesday it was on schedule despite signs that damage to the facility in Japan's quake-battered northeast was worse than initially thought.

The earthquake and tsunami left nearly 25,000 people dead or missing and the government has moved to evacuate residents from villages outside the 20-kilometre exclusion zone around the ageing plant.

TEPCO and the government have yet to release estimates for the payout bill but analysts say it could range from four trillion yen ($50 billion) to 10 trillion yen, depending how long the crisis lasts.

Representatives of 620 fishermen along the coast of Ibaraki prefecture, south of Fukushima, visited TEPCO's head office in Tokyo on Wednesday, demanding the utility pay damages because they were forced to halt fishing.

They are claiming a total of 425 million yen for loss of earnings in March, according to Isao Ono, one of the representatives.

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