Georgia is positioned to capitalize on the abandonment of nuclear power by two of its largest trading partners following the 2011 accident at a Japanese nuclear plant, Gov. Nathan Deal said Monday.

Just back from a trade mission to the Far East, Deal told business leaders that Japan has significantly scaled back its nuclear generating capacity since the earthquake and tsunami that led to the failure of the Fukushima plant, the largest nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in the mid-1980s.

“If they do not have the nuclear power, they’re going to have to import their energy,” the governor said during a meeting of the Georgia Competitiveness Initiative, a task force of business leaders he created two years ago to look for ways to recruit jobs to Georgia using tax incentives.

“We are in a prime position to continue to attract manufacturing that may traditionally have been in Japan.”

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