China says its nuclear reactors passed inspections
AP-Wed Jun 15, 12:57 am ET
BEIJING - China's nuclear regulators have given the country's reactors a clean bill of health following inspections ordered after the disaster at Japan's tsunami-struck Fukushima Dai-ichi facility.
Inspections have been completed on all 13 of China's currently operating reactors in a process very similar to those in place in Europe and the United States, Vice Environment Minister Li Ganjie said in a statement posted on the ministry's website Wednesday.
Further safety reviews of 28 reactors now under construction should be completed by October, Li said.
Li has called for a major overhaul of China's nuclear oversight in the wake of Japan's disaster, although there have been no signs that China plans to diverge from its ambitious program to develop the industry.
China intends to have more than 100 reactors in operation by 2020, but has suspended issuing permits for new plants until a national nuclear safety plan is completed. China says the expansion is necessary to fuel an energy-hungry economy that is overwhelmingly dependent on coal.
Li's remarks came in a meeting Tuesday in Beijing with the U.S. Energy Department Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Peter Lyons. The two discussed the Japanese disaster and called for closer cooperation on nuclear safety.
"The Fukushima accident is still being handled and the data is still being sorted, but overall, the effects have been profound and have taught us a major lesson," Li was quoted as saying
China has finished inspecting nuclear reactors operating around the country and will complete checks on more than two dozen still under construction by October, the environment ministry has said.
The nationwide assessment of the country's nuclear facilities was launched in April after a devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan triggered an atomic crisis -- and sparked a worldwide rethink on atomic power.
"The consequence of (the Japanese) incident is very serious and the lesson is very profound," Vice Minister Li Ganjie said in state-media report posted on the environmental protection ministry's website this week.
While Li did not announce the results of the inspection, he told reporters on June 3 that "safety conditions ... are good".
Li stressed China was moving as quickly as the United States and European countries in inspecting its facilities.
"China is also stepping up work on a nuclear safety plan. Until the plan is approved, the Chinese government will suspend approval of new nuclear plants," Li said.
Previously China said it aimed to complete the inspection by August.
The country, whose booming economy depends on burning coal for most of its electricity generation, currently has 13 reactors and 28 more are under construction, he said.
China still plans to have more than 100 reactors by 2020, Li said.
Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility was rocked by explosions, fires and radiation leaks after the March 11 quake-tsunami cut its power and caused fuel rods to heat up in the world's worst atomic crisis in 25 years.
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