OSLO: The disaster at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant could slow worldwide development of nuclear technologies and further complicate the battle against climate change, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Tuesday. “I recognize increased public fears currently surrounding the nuclear sector due to the events in Japan,” said agency chief Nobuo Tanaka, a Japanese citizen whose country is struggling to limit a nuclear disaster at its quake-and tsunami-hit atomic energy plants. “While I understand the public reaction, I am concerned about the effect it could have on support for this technology, given its important role in achieving both energy security and a low-carbon economy,” he told reporters during a visit to Oslo. According to an IEA report published last year, development of nuclear energy should account for six percent of the plan to slash CO2 emissions in half by 2050, which is necessary to keep global temperatures from rising more than two degrees Celsius. The IEA also said Japan appears adequately supplied with oil following the earthquake and tsunami. Nobuo Tanaka, the head of IEA, said Japan “have a very high - 170 days - stock so we are not very much worried.” He added that if called upon, the IEA was ready to release strategic stockpiles.
