Japan and France agreed on Thursday that they will cooperate in crafting new international nuclear safety standards by the end of this year, after the continuing crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which was triggered by the devastating earthquake and ensuing tsunami on March 11.

The agreement was reached during talks in Tokyo between Prime Minister Naoto Kan and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who became the first foreign leader to visit Japan since the natural disasters that devastated north-eastern coastal towns.

The two leaders stated in a joint news conference after their meeting in Tokyo, that nuclear issues will be one of the top issues at the Group of Eight (G8) summit in late May, when leaders also from Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy, Russia and the United States will gather in the north-western French resort city of Deauville.

Sarkozy said the problem with nuclear energy is that “there are no global common rules.” He went on, saying “We need to improve safety standards, not discuss whether we should choose to stop introducing nuclear energy”.

French president promised to provide assistance to Japan, not only as the leader of France but also as the chair of the G-8 and the Group of 20.

Sarkozy also said that France is willing to offer more of its expertise to help Japan contain radiation leaking out of the crippled complex.


Radiation in seawater near Fukushima 4,385 times limit

The level of radioactive iodine-131 in the sea off Japan's disaster-hit Fukushima nuclear plant has soared to its highest reading yet at 4,385 times the legal limit, plant operator TEPCO said Thursday.

Last Friday the level of radioactive iodine in the seawater south of Fukushima was 1,250 times the limit which rose to 3,355 times on Tuesday, the AFP reported.

In the meantime, very low levels of radioactive iodine was found in a sample of milk from the West Coast state of Washington, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday, while the Chinese officials said “extremely low” levels of radiation from Japan's crippled nuclear power plant have spread to most Chinese provinces but remain far too low to be a health risk.

Another strong magnitude 6 earthquake hit northeast part of Japan, Japan Meteorological Agency reported Friday.

Epicenter of the quake was offshore near the Miyagi prefecture, at a depth of 40 kilometers, the agency said.

No tsunami warnings were issued.