Japan to complete reactors despite no-nuclear policy

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan said on Saturday it would go ahead with planned work to complete three new nuclear power reactors, despite saying a day earlier it would phase out atomic power generation by 2040.

The construction of the reactors at three different plants was suspended after a massive earthquake and tsunami sparked the Fukushima nuclear crisis on March 11 last year - the worst such accident in a generation.

"We don't intend to withdraw the permission that has already been given by the ministry," Mr Yukio Edano, the minister of economy, trade and industry, said as he met local administrators in Aomori, northern Japan, according to reports.

Two of the reactors are located at plants in Aomori while the third is in the western district of Shimane.