A committee of Japan's Lower House has approved civil nuclear cooperation treaties with 4 countries. The house is to vote on the agreements next week.

The foreign affairs committee gave majority support on Friday for the treaties with Jordan, Russia, Vietnam and South Korea.

The main governing Democratic Party and the largest opposition Liberal Democratic Party voted for the pacts.

The treaties would allow Japan to export nuclear power generation facilities and transfer related technology to the nations.

Japan and the 4 countries signed the accords before the March 11th disaster and Fukushima nuclear accident. Diet approval had been pending ever since.

Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda told the committee that Japan has a duty to share the lessons learned from the accident.

Noda said it would be meaningful for Japan to offer safe nuclear technologies to countries that request them, while ensuring the peaceful use of nuclear power and monitoring conditions in recipient nations.

But he expressed caution about signing similar pacts with more countries, citing the need to review the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Source: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20111202_27.html

Image credit: http://asiabizz.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Civil-Nuclear-Bill.jpg