Japan's nuclear-zero policy will have serious impact, warns Areva.

PARIS, Sept. 18 Kyodo

The chief executive officer of France's major nuclear equipment maker Areva SA said Monday that Japan's new policy of aiming to stop nuclear power generation in the 2030s would have a serious impact on the world's energy market.

Luc Oursel told the country's Les Echos newspaper that the competitiveness of Japanese nuclear equipment makers in the global market would be weakened as the new energy strategy would force them to implement restructuring programs.

Japan has tasked Areva with reprocessing spent nuclear fuel that is produced at its nuclear reactors.

Oursel gave a positive appraisal to a dimension of the new strategy under which the Japanese government said it will maintain the nuclear fuel cycle policy.

Before the 2011 massive earthquake and tsunami ravaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, Japan represented 8 percent of Areva's worldwide sales.