China slows nuclear power plant programme

BEIJING — China, the world’s leader in construction of new nuclear power plants, announced that it was suspending new plant approvals until it could strengthen safety standards. It also announced stepped-up inspections at its existing plants.

China plans to add more than 25 reactors, but most are already under construction, and it was unclear how many would be affected by the new order.

The announcement came after Premier Wen Jiabao discussed Japan’s nuclear crisis with the State Council, a body roughly equivalent to the White House cabinet.

“We must fully grasp the importance and urgency of nuclear safety, and development of nuclear power must make safety the top priority,” the government said on its Web site. “Any hazards must be thoroughly dealt with, and those that do not conform to safety standards must immediately cease construction."

The government also said that levels of radiation remained normal in China and that experts had concluded that the wind would scatter the radiation from Japan’s stricken Daiichi nuclear complex to the east over the Pacific Ocean, away from China. “This will not affect the health of our public,” the statement said. Officials have portrayed nuclear energy as a way for the nation to reduce its reliance on coal and cut its carbon dioxide emissions while at the same time meeting its surging demands for electricity. The country has never had a serious nuclear accident, though the speed of its construction program has raised safety concerns.  

International experts complained in 2009 that China was short on nuclear inspectors, a problem the government pledged to remedy by quintupling the number of staff at its safety agency by the end of that year.

Also in 2009, the government-appointed head of China National Nuclear Corp., which overseas China’s nuclear program, was detained because of allegations of bid-rigging in nuclear power construction contracts. That scandal raised fears that contractors were being allowed to cut corners and evade safety standards. 

Some specialists also worried that China was building plants too close to urban areas or earthquake fault lines. In late February, just a few weeks before the crisis at Japan’s Daiichi nuclear complex began to unfold,  the Ministry of Environmental Protection announced new regulations prohibiting the construction near earthquake zones or major cities. 

As recently as Saturday, before the gravity of the nuclear disaster in Japan was clear, a top Chinese official restated China’s commitment to nuclear power.

“Some lessons we learn from Japan will be considered in the making of China’s nuclear power plans,” Zhang Lijun, vice minister of Environmental Protection, said then. “But China will not change its determination and plan for developing nuclear power.”

He also said that China uses a more modern design for its plants than Japan’s stricken reactors.