Japan kicks off nuclear safety conference

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KORIYAMA, Japan, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- A three-day conference on nuclear safety has begun in Japan's nuclear disaster-stricken Fukushima prefecture, officials said.

The conference, during which people affected by the nuclear disaster at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant will share lessons and knowledge they learned after the incident, kicked off Saturday in Koriyama, Jiji Press reported.

Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba, co-chair of the conference, said, "The people of Fukushima are determined to rise above the challenges and engineer a powerful revival [so areas affected by the nuclear crisis] can become better and stronger than ever."

"My wish is that, through this conference, we can gather wisdom from abroad for the affected areas and disseminate initiatives undertaken in the disaster-affected areas around the world," he stressed.

Representatives from about 120 different countries are set to attend the conference, which is hosted by the government.