Closing-Story-A-nuclear-country

A nuclear country

The latest World Nuclear Industry Status Report has just been released and it shows that 28 of the 66 new nuclear reactors under construction around the world are in China. But acceptance by the population "can no longer be taken for granted" says physicist He Zouxiu, who believes a nuclear accident on the continent between 2020 and 2030 is "very likely"
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The latest World Nuclear Industry Status Report has just been released and it shows that 28 of the 66 new nuclear reactors under construction around the world are in China. But acceptance by the population "can no longer be taken for granted" says physicist He Zouxiu, who believes a nuclear accident on the continent between 2020 and 2030 is "very likely"
 
The World Nuclear Industry Status Report relating to 2013 does not include the recent controversy involving the new central nuclear power reactors in Guangdong, but it speaks of “security concerns” relating to “current and future reactors” in China. The document, now available online, thoroughly examines the global landscape of the nuclear industry during the first six months of 2013, with a special focus on China, which leads other countries investing in nuclear energy by a great margin: of the 66 reactors currently under construction around the world, 28 are located on the mainland.
 
The report traces the history of nuclear power in China up to present time, highlighting the concerns raised by He Zuoxiu, a physicist who in the past has been linked to the development of the country’s nuclear program, and who believes that the pace of nuclear development in China, as well as the range of reactors used, will eventually result in a lack of experience and consequent gaps in the management of different plants. 
 
He Zuoxiu sees the occurrence of a nuclear accident in the country between 2020 and 2030 as “very likely” and compares what he considers to be an “aggressive nuclear policy” by the country to the Great Leap Forward.
 
He Zuoxiu, quoted in this study, is asking Beijing to reconsider its nuclear strategy, to slow the pace of the building of new power plants and to place safety as top priority. One of the key measures identified by the physicist is the construction of nuclear infrastructures solely in coastal areas and with technology capable of detecting potential tsunamis.
 
With caution
 
The Chinese nuclear program started late compared with other countries. The construction of the first commercial reactor dates back to 1985 and today 18 reactors can be counted in the country, representing 15 gigawatts of energy. The electricity supplied by the devices in 2012 was 92.65 terawatts and represented only two percent of the nation’s energy consumption, one of the lowest percentages among all the countries that rely on nuclear energy. However, over the next few years and by 2018 it is expected that China will have 46 reactors in operation.
 
The reality is that in the first six months of this year, no new nuclear project was started in China, and the recent events in Guangdong province, with the population of Jiangmen taking to the streets and preventing the construction of a nuclear reactor on the outskirts of the city, show that the path may be more difficult than expected.
 
The World Nuclear Industry Status Report, signed by two independent consultants, Mycle Schneider and Antony Froggatt, and a number of employees associated with the industry in Europe and Asia, shows that in 2010 the national medium and long-term nuclear development plan predicted that within a decade the country would have 80 gigawatts of nuclear power and 50 gigawatts under construction. In 2011, a case study of the policies of the Central Government suggested that the plan be adjusted, and predicted that by 2020, there were to be 70 gigawatts of nuclear power, with another 30 gigawatts on the way, to “ensure quality control of the supply chain.” The recommendations made it clear that “going too quickly could threaten the good health of the sector in the long term.”
 
Before that, in 2008, a document from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, later revealed by Wikileaks, highlighted U.S. concerns about the type of technology, allegedly obsolete, that China was using in its reactors. The problem was the pressurised water reactors Gen-II CPR 1000, a model built by the Chinese Guangdong Nuclear Power Group (CGN). A member of the Chinese State Nuclear Power Technology Corp, Tange Zede, went on to say that the reactors do not even meet national security criteria established in 2004, let alone international criteria.
 
He Zuoxiu sees the occurrence of a nuclear accident in the country between 2020 and 2030 as “very likely” and compares what he considers to be an “aggressive nuclear policy” by the country to the Great Leap Forward.
 
The biggest brake on Chinese nuclear expansion was however the Fukushima disaster in Japan in 2011, according to the same report. On March 14 the Chinese authorities assured that the safety of nuclear power would be strengthened, and suspended the approval of new projects until the completion of a round of inspections. In May of the same year, the work was considered complete and the estimates for 2020 were readjusted to 60 gigawatts of nuclear power.
 
Fukushima also brought awareness to the implications of nuclear energy. According to the report, previously, the protests against the proliferation of nuclear reactors in China were centred in Hong Kong, using a nuclear power plant in Daya Bay in Shenzhen as an example.
After the Japanese disaster, popular discontent has spread throughout the country and, in particular, to the planned projects for inland areas. 
 
The central areas of Taohuajian, Pengze and Dafan, all at advanced stages of design and investment, remain suspended and it is almost certain that they will not advance due to strong social opposition.
 
The latest episode happened recently and very close to Macau, with the Guangdong authorities announcing in July the cancellation of the industrial park in the zone of Heshan, which was ultimately a park to house a nuclear power station.
 
The Directorate of Environmental Protection of Macau was not officially informed by the authorities of Guangdong Province of the cancellation of the project planned for the nuclear power station in the zone of Heshan. When questioned by local Portuguese language newspaper Ponto Final on whether they received formal information about the cancellation of that unit, the Directorate only said that “the Municipal People’s Government of Heshan convened a press conference” and “publicly announced that it will not consider the request for approval for the 
 
Industrial Park Project in Longwan in the city of Jianmen.” Environmental Protection Services also reported that they will “continue to follow the principle of ensuring quality of life and preserving the environment, and communicate and contact the relevant departments” in China.
 
Despite the proliferation of nuclear energy and recently established partnerships with several countries including France, Romania and Turkey to foster this industry, China is also the country that most broadly invested in renewable energy last year, having spent US$65 billion, the study highlights. This may be another alternative route for it to follow, should nuclear energy become too hotly contested.
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