China nuclear plant delay raises safety concern
The world's first AP1000 third-generation nuclear power plant being built in Sanmen, Zhejiang province, has fallen behind schedule, and questions are being raised over its safety standards.
The world's first AP1000 third-generation nuclear power plant being built in Sanmen, Zhejiang province, has fallen behind schedule, and questions are being raised over its safety standards.
"Our state leaders have put a high priority on [nuclear safety] but companies executing projects do not seem to have the same level of understanding," Li, a former vice-president of CNNC, said on the sidelines of a recent clean energy conference in Macau.
The State Council in October last year decided to resume "normal" construction of nuclear power plants, ending a 19-month suspension of new project approvals amid a thorough safety review of all operating projects and those under construction or being planned following the earthquake-nuclear disaster in Japan in March 2011.
Beijing also scaled back expansion of new plants before the end of 2015 and allowed only a small number of "well-proven" projects in coastal regions.
"Safety is the lifeline of the nuclear power industry," the State Council said at the time, adding the industry must build plants "based on the highest safety requirements globally".
In 2006, Westinghouse, a unit of Japanese engineering and electronics giant Toshiba, won a contract to supply two reactors to Sanmen, and another two to Haiyang, Shandong province, based on its AP1000 technology.