"Steps to boost atomic safety after Japan's Fukushima accident must be 'cost-effective,' an industry body said on Tuesday, a day after the UN nuclear chief suggested power firms could help pay for expanded safety checks.

John Ritch, director general of the World Nuclear Association, said the industry had been struggling in the last decade to limit capital costs while building a new generation of reactors.

'In this context, it is crucially important that regulatory actions taken in response to Fukushima have demonstrable benefit arising from any increased costs,' he told a major international safety conference, according to a copy of his speech.

'Focus solely on cost-effective measures,' he said.

The head of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency opened the week-long meeting on Monday by calling for countries to carry out risk assessments on all their reactors within 18 months, to make sure they could withstand extreme natural events of the kind that crippled Fukushima."

Fredrik Dahl reports for Reuters June 22, 2011. [2]