Absolutely, there should be international rules and they should be tough standards as well. A coal fired plant, wind energy, etc. have little change of crossing national borders but a nuclear disaster can travel across nation after nation.

(Another little factoid, advocates of nuclear power leave out. I, for one, believe that endangering lives and land in other nations is irresponsible behavior.)

James Pilant

From BBC –

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called for clear international standards on nuclear safety in light of the ongoing crisis at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Speaking in Japan, he proposed that nuclear safety authorities from the G20 countries discuss the issue in May.

Radiation detected in the sea near the stricken plant has again risen steeply.

Meanwhile, the UN has advised Japan to consider expanding the evacuation zone around the reactors.

Mr Sarkozy is the first foreign leader to visit Japan following the earthquake and tsunami that hit the country on 11 March.

From further down in the article.

“The problem is more about establishing safety norms than it is about the choice of nuclear energy, for this there is no alternative right now,” Mr Sarkozy was quoted as saying by Reuters.

“We must address this anomaly that there are no international safety norms for nuclear matters. We want international standards because the world is a village and what happens in Japan can have consequences elsewhere.”