25 Apr (NucNet): New safety requirements for the nuclear industry in China will have “major implications” with capital costs for each nuclear power plant increasing by up to 20 percent and Chinese companies forced to develop indigenous reactor designs instead of relying on imported technology, a science journal has said.
Writing in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (http://thebulletin.org/), Hui Zhang and Shangui Zhao* also warned that to really be a leader on nuclear safety, China should speed up the adoption of new laws on nuclear energy and improve the independence and authority of nuclear safety regulators.
They said China changed course “dramatically” after the March 2011 Fukushima-Daiichi accident, slowing the pace of nuclear development to focus on safety.
But the article noted that since 2008, China has had three major nuclear safety regulators: the China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA), part of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology; the National Energy Administration (NEA), part of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC); and the National Nuclear Safety Administration (NNSA), part of the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP).
“Unfortunately, overlapping and ill-defined responsibilities among these agencies have made for unnecessary duplication and imposed complicated requirements on reactor operators,” the article said.
“China should streamline this system and speed up the adoption of new laws on atomic energy and safety. Beijing has not yet issued a comprehensive law on the use of nuclear energy.
“A first step would be to quickly pass the draft atomic energy law that was completed in 2011 and is currently circulating among government ministries.”
The article said China is constructing four plants with Generation III reactors bought from the American company Westinghouse, and two with Generation III reactors from France's Areva. By the end of 2013, though, Beijing is expected to start construction on a Generation III reactor of 1,400 megawatts based on a proprietary design developed by Chinese scientists.
In its initial reaction to Fukushima-Daiichi, China’s State Council, the nation’s governing body, decided to suspend approval of new nuclear power stations, carry out comprehensive safety inspections of existing plants, and review all nuclear projects including those under construction, the article said.
In October 2012, after concluding the inspections and reviews, the State Council issued a new plan that represents “a serious and cautious reevaluation” of safety issues and the pace of development.
The article is online:
http://thebulletin.org/web-edition/features/china-moves-cautiously-ahead-nuclear-energy
Hui Zhang is a physicist leading a research initiative on China’s nuclear policies for Harvard University’s Project on Managing the Atom.
Shangui Zhao is chief of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Division at the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Centre of China in Beijing.
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