WASHINGTON (AFP) - Finance chiefs from the G7 industrialized countries have endorsed nuclear energy, an increasingly attractive power source as governments confront global warming and over-dependence on fossil fuels.
The Group of Seven, following a meeting here Friday, described energy diversification as an important priority for both rich and poor nations.
"Diversification can include advanced energy technologies such as renewable, nuclear and clean coal," said the ministers and central bank governors from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
The group at previous meetings had been unable to agree on a text citing nuclear power, notably in the face of opposition from Germany.
But a steady rise in oil prices, from less than 30 dollars a barrel in April 2003 to nearly 80 dollars last year, as well as increased energy nationalism in producers such as Russia, Venezuela and Iran have managed to change minds.
France, which has long advocated the adoption of an international nuclear power program as a "clean" alternative to fossil fuels, hailed the G7's latest initiative.
French Finance Minister Thierry Breton said he had put "a lot of energy" into getting the G7 to include "nuclear" among potential alternative power sources.
"It wasn't my first attempt but it was the first time it was unanimously accepted," he said.
France gets 78 percent of its electricity production from nuclear sources, against an average of just 16 percent worldwide and 32 percent in Europe, and is home to several major nuclear energy companies, such as Areva.
Nuclear advocates had already gained some ground with a recent resolution adopted by the European Union calling for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 20 percent between now and 2020.
The resolution, adopted by EU leaders at a summit last month, mentioned nuclear power as a legitimate means of meeting the reduction target.
US President George W. Bush in his State of the Union address in January also referred to nuclear energy as a way of diversifying US electricity supply.
But in the United States, where no nuclear plant has been built in the past 30 years, and where oil and coal remain the principal power sources, big energy companies have been reluctant to invest.
They are seeking legal and financial support from the government before going ahead with nuclear projects, which they see as largely governed by political and environmental -- rather than purely economic -- considerations.
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