There has been another radiation leak at Daya Bay nuclear power station, the second in five months. Most shocking is that CLP Power, which has a stake in the nuclear power station, again tried to cover up the incident by saying that it was too minor to be reported.
The incident occurred on October 23 when a reactor was switched off for repair works.
We should pay attention to any and every radiation leak - no matter how small - because a nuclear incident can be a matter of life and death. Radiation can cause cancer and can have serious effects on pregnant women, causing damage to the fetus. Consequently, radiation exposure can produce development defects. So, it's better to be safe than sorry.
CLP should have immediately reported the incident. But even after it was exposed, the company chose to inform only a handful of news organisations and excluded those from the electronic media. Obviously, it was a damage-control measure as it tried to minimise news coverage and draw less public attention.
Chan Siu-hung, CLP corporate development director, described the leak as minor and said the company had not disclosed it immediately because it was insignificant.
The incident was classified as a level one accident on the scale of 0-7 set by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Only nuclear reactor accidents classified as level two or above are required to be reported to the public and international organisations immediately. Chan seems to believe that the company doesn't need to do more. This kind of attitude is unacceptable.
With Daya Bay located about 50 kilometres north of Hong Kong, many Hongkongers have been concerned about the risks of having a nuclear power plant located close by.