An official overseeing nuclear safety in China has said the safety of the country's nuclear power facilities is assured and reaffirmed the country's goal of developing the sector.
"The safety of China's nuclear power facilities is guaranteed and China will not abandon its nuclear power plan for fear of slight risks," said Tian Jiashu, director of two nuclear safety centers under the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
He said during a recent interview with People's Daily that strict laws, regulations and technical standards that govern site selection, design, construction, testing, operation and the decommissioning of nuclear power plants were all stringently enforced.
During the 12 Five-Year Plan, China has approved 12 nuclear power projects with 26 units under construction and their installed capacity is more than 2.65 Gigawatt. In addition, there are another 14 projects to be approved with installed capacity 2.86 GW in 27 units.
So China will have 66 units in total (with 13 units have been installed) and installed capacity will reach 66 GW. China's nuclear power will account for 6 percent of the total electricity generation by 2020. In France, however, the nuclear power is about 80 percent of the total electricity generation and 16 percent of the world's nuclear power plants. Therefore, nuclear power should play a more important role in China s clean energy.
China drew up the codes by taking into account the nuclear standards of developed countries along with the safety recommendations of the International Atomic Energy Agency, he said.
The industry also learned lessons from nuclear accidents in the past and adopted time-tested technology in the design and construction of its nuclear power plants, he added.
According to Tian, there have been no defects observed in China's seven operational nuclear power plants, and the safety indices of the plants were generally higher than the global average.
In addition, China has an emergency response mechanism in place for its nuclear power plants, he said.
