nuclear-news

China remains inscrutable on nuclear safety

China denies nuclear accident Telegraph, 27 Jan 12, China has moved swiftly to deny it has become the latest nation to experience a nuclear accident, after claims that it was forced to shut down its newest nuclear reactor last year. By David Eimer in Beijing   27 Jan 2012  A report from Japan’s Atomic Energy Agency said the China Experimental Fast Reactor (CEFR) stopped generating electricity in October following an accident. With Japan already reeling from the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant in March last year, the incident sparked alarm there and in South Korea over the prospect of radiation leaking from the CEFR.

Those fears were intensified by Beijing’s failure to report the accident or release details of what happened, according to a Tokyo newspaper which cited the Japanese Atomic Energy Agency’s investigation.
The same report highlighted worrying safety lapses at the China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE) outside Beijing, which houses the CEFR. Safety standards were said to be “very low”, with a lack of devices to measure potential radiation leaks, while the main control room of the reactor was equipped with beds which workers rested on when they were on duty.
Wan Gang, the director of the CIAE, denied there had been an accident or any cover-up…..
China has never experienced a major nuclear accident, although there
have been small leaks of radiation from some of its nuclear power
stations. The last occurred in May 2010 in Shenzhen in southern
China’s Guangdong Province at the Daya Bay plant, the oldest of
China’s 13 operational nuclear reactors. Managers at the plant failed
to inform the public of the leak until three weeks later.
Subsequently, Beijing denied that radiation had escaped but it was
confirmed by a Hong Kong power company with a share in Daya Bay…..
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9044537/China-denies-nuclear-accident.html

January 28, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | China, safety