Areva of France takes full advantage of Fukushima nuclear catastrophe

In an article entitled "French nuclear power lobbyists used Fukushima smear campaign to promote own business," the Mainichi Daily News reports that the French nuclear establishment was playing a double game in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe. While French President Nicolas Sarkozy and even CEO of Areva Anne Lauvergeon were in Tokyo offering their full support to the Japanese prime minister and Japanese federal government, Areva lobbyists were busily handing out booklets to U.S. Congress Members portraying the catastrophe as peculiar to Japan, and impossible with Areva reactors. The Areva sales team was so forceful in its sales pitch that it even convinced Tokyo Electric Power Company to choose it to provide the water decontamination system at Fukushima Daiichi -- which has failed repeatedly in the past few weeks. The article also reports that Jeffrey Immelt, General Electric's Chairman and CEO as well as President Obama's job creation czar, dodged meetings with Japanese federal government officials and questions from reporters for fear of being held liable for the catastrophe involving four GE Boiling Water Reactors of the Mark 1 design.