CHINA: Nuclear power approvals frozen after Japan crisis

Record ID: 326745

  • Title: CHINA: Nuclear power approvals frozen after Japan crisis
  • Date: 17th March 2011
  • Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (FILE - FEBRUARY 2010) (REUTERS) CHINESE PAGODA ON HILL IN FRONT OF FACTORIES POWER STATION EMITTING SMOKE SHENTOU TOWN, SHANXI PROVINCE, CHINA (FILE - OCTOBER, 2010) (REUTERS) COAL-FIRED POWER PLANT EMISSIONS RISING FROM CHIMNEYS ORDOS, INNER MONGOLIA AUTONOMOUS REGION, CHINA (FILE - SEPTEMBER, 2010) (REUTERS) MECHANICAL DIGGER DIGGING IN COAL M
  • Embargoed: 1st April 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China, China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Energy
  • Reuters ID: LVACXXQRZN4BV7O01JRF6GECTBEX
  • Story Text: China is suspending approvals for planned nuclear power plants and is undertaking a comprehensive safety check of plants in operation or under construction, the country's State Council, or cabinet, said on Wednesday (March 16).
    The Chinese government made the announcement after an escalating nuclear crisis in Japan, where an earthquake and tsunami battered nuclear power plants.
    The State Council meeting said it had not detected abnormal levels of radiation in China from Japan.
    Chinese experts have warned that China is at risk of a similar crisis to the one unfolding in Japan, if the expansion of the nuclear program does not slow down.
    Engineers in Japan are fighting to stabilize the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in the country's northeast, which was damaged by last week's massive earthquake and tsunami.
    People living within 30 kilometres (18.64 miles) of the facility north of Tokyo were advised to stay indoors and conserve power, while others started fleeing the capital, fearing a radioactive cloud.
    China is rolling out nuclear energy faster than any other country. It currently has 13 working reactors with 10.8 gigawatts of total generating capacity.
    Officially, it plans to increase this to 40 gigawatts by 2020, but some officials have said the country is considering raising that goal to 80 gigawatts or more. This would be an increase of eight times in less than a decade.
    China is currently building over a dozen more plants like Hongyanhe (pron: hong-yan-her) Nuclear Power Plant near the northern port city of Dalian, and another dozen are planned after that.
    Han Xiaoping (pron: han seaow-ping), Chief Information Officer at China Energy Net, an energy consultancy, said the country was rolling out nuclear power too quickly, just as Japan had done during its own period of breakneck economic growth.
    He said low safety standards and a lack of government transparency and qualified workers all posed dangers.
    "With such high-speed development, I think it's difficult for the government to supervise properly. The plants' construction and design, as well as their operation, could all have a lot of problems. So perhaps China needs to slow down, bring this speed within a controllable range, and develop it gradually," Han said.
    The country has promised to reduce its carbon emission per unit of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) by at least 40 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels. While it is investing heavily in solar and wind power, they are not stable and scalable enough to fill the gap.
    Renewables will only make up 15 percent of China's total energy mix by 2020, and experts like Han see nuclear power as essential to weaning China off fossil fuels.
    "If there aren't more supplies of clean energy, and we continue burning so much coal, it poses a great danger not only to the world, but also to the Chinese people. Because burning coal also produces radioactive material, unfortunately, possibly much more than the radioactive material that might blow over from the Fukushima plant. So it's still more realistic to continue building nuclear power plants, but ensuring their safety is the most important of all," Han said.
    China itself had suffered huge earthquakes, including the 2008 Sichuan quake which left over 80,000 dead in the country's mountainous region.
    The government now has controversial plans to build nuclear plants inland, away from the coast, even in places like Sichuan. But Han said China's latecomer status means that its third-generation plants are newer and safer than Japan's second-generation nuclear technology - the Fukushima plant is now 30 years old.
    China's new plants are built to withstand higher internal pressure and can cool more easily, Han said.
    Han also said increased public concern could help ensure that standards are higher and future plants safer.
    While Japan's crisis has shown the dangers of nuclear power, many like Han believe China's addiction to coal could be no less serious.
    China is the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitter. It currently relies on coal, the dirtiest of the fossil fuels, for over 70 percent of the energy needed to fuel its booming economy.
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