"A nuclear power station is not a fridge. That is why I am worried about attempts to hand out nuclear power stations all over the world as a kind of cure-all," Steinmeier told the Frankfurter Rundschau.

"Running a nuclear plant requires extensive security technology, reliable supervision and political stability."

Steinmeier said nuclear power also posed the risk that radioactive "waste could end up in the hands of criminals or terrorists".

Germany plans to phase out nuclear power by 2020 but the project is a bone of contention between Social Democrats, like Steinmeier, and conservatives in Chancellor Angela Merkel's left-right coalition.

Merkel insists that a nuclear phase-out would hinder efforts to slash Germany's dependency on greenhouse gas-producing fossil fuels.

Steinmeier also said he could imagine enlarging the Group of Eight top industrial powers to include major emerging nations.

He said the members of G8 must concede that they cannot solve global problems, like climate change, by themselves.

"That is why we have to strengthen our dialogue with nations like China, India, South Africa, Mexico and Brazil.

"I could imagine that one day we will have something like a G13."