Exit from nuclear power "project of century," German president says

Oct 25, 2011, 4:53 GMT

Tokyo - President Christian Wulff on Tuesday called the phaseout of nuclear energy in Germany the 'project of the century' and said it must be combined with advances in sustainability as he visited Japan, the site of a nuclear accident this year.

The energy turnaround would occur in incremental steps and must be accompanied by improvements in efficiency, in which Japan is a trailblazer, the German head of state said while receiving an honorary doctorate from the University of Tsukuba outside Tokyo.

Climate change has made it clear that economic growth must soon be decoupled from increasing use of resources, the president said, adding that today's generation should not sacrifice the future so it could achieve affluence.

'That goes for our private and government debts as well as for our handling of all of our resources,' Wulff said.

Germany was rattled by the worst nuclear accident in Japan's history, in which a power plant began leaking radioactive materials after March's earthquake and tsunami damaged it. As a result, Germany decided to close all of its nuclear reactors by 2022.

Wulff planned later Tuesday to visit the disaster zone in the north-eastern prefecture of Fukushima, where the damaged nuclear reactor is also located.

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