China nuclear protest builds steam
By Leslie Hook in Wangjiang, Anhui province
2/28/2012 FT
For Wang Nianyu, a cotton farmer in Anhui province, China’s nuclear debate is right on his doorstep. From his patio he points across the Yangtze River to the Pengze nuclear power station, which has become a lightning rod for protest after the meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant last year.
“We only knew about the plant when we read about it in the newspapers,” says Mr Wang, 72, the former village head of this tiny hamlet. “Nuclear plants shouldn’t be this close to people.”
Organised public protest in China is rare, but growing, and Mr Wang is part of a groundswell of criticism of the Pengze plant.
China, which is the world’s biggest energy consumer, gets just 2 per cent of its power from its 15 nuclear reactors, according to the latest data. But this is expected to more than double in the next decade as it moves away from fossil fuels. Beijing is embarking on the world’s most dramatic nuclear expansion programme with 26 reactors under construction, and a further 51 planned and 120 proposed.
http://easss.com/nuclear
After the Fukushima accident, Beijing suspended approvals for new nuclear plants, announced a sweeping safety review, and started drafting new nuclear safety legislation.
While less visible, the response from Chinese living rooms as people watched images of the disaster unfold was just as important. Fears of radioactive fallout from Japan caused panicked runs on iodine used to treat people exposed to radiation and iodised salt used in cooking.
Nearly a year later, opposition to the Pengze plant has escalated to the point that the eastern province of Anhui province has issued a formal appeal to Beijing to halt construction on the plant, which is in neighbouring Jiangxi province but close to population centres in Anhui.
Other reactors under construction have also seen more vocal opposition.
Although the protests do not appear co-ordinated and no nationwide anti-nuclear lobby group exists, any public disturbance will raise anxiety in Beijing where leaders are increasingly worried about unrest.
He Zuoxiu, a prominent retired physicist who helped develop China’s nuclear programme in the 1960s, has been lobbying hard against the Pengze plant, and other proposed inland reactors, saying it shows how badly China’s nuclear power plans have over-reached.
“China has to stop its ‘Great Leap Forward’ approach to nuclear power,” says Mr He, referring to the disastrous industrialisation programme under Mao Zedong that left millions dead from famine. “China has to have nuclear energy – we need the power – but we need to slow down and take a more measured approach, and really learn the lessons of Fukushima.”
Officials say China’s commitment to nuclear power is unaltered, and the government argues that nuclear power will be essential as the country shifts away from coal and fossil fuels.
But almost a year on from Fukushima the new nuclear laws have yet to be published, leaving a big question mark for the global nuclear industry, which had been counting on China to drive demand for new reactors.
Some experts say the delay may be because no official wants to approve new nuclear plants before the Communist party leadership transition later this year. But even when the new laws are unveiled and China’s nuclear programme resumes in full, the shift in public attitudes could make it more difficult for reactors to gain Beijing’s approval in future.
The Pengze protests began when four retired bureaucrats from Wangjiang, a bustling city of 620,000 in Anhui, wrote a protest letter last June, saying the plant was too close to their town.
Although their petition was initially ignored by the Anhui government, which is planning several reactors itself, it was circulated privately and gradually gained a following among provincial and central leaders. Last last year, the town of Wangjiang submitted a formal petition to the Anhui government, which passed it up to the National Energy Administration in Beijing. Earlier this month, Anhui’s provincial congress also debated a motion expressing opposition to the Pengze plant.
The nuclear power station is one of three inland facilities that are about to begin construction. Mr He and other scientists have raised concerns over water supply and population density for China’s inland reactors. He says that the huge population living downstream along the Yangtze River would be threatened if there was a nuclear accident.
The Pengze nuclear plant is owned by four Chinese power and infrastructure companies, China Power Investment, Jiangxi Ganneng, Jiangxi Ganyu Expressway and Shenzhen Nanshan Power. The companies did not respond to requests for comment.
Whether or not the project goes ahead, it has already had a big impact on public perceptions of nuclear power in the surrounding areas. In the riverside hamlet of Shengli, the plant has become a daily topic of conversation. Since few villagers can read, one of Mr Wang’s neighbours, a retired poultry veterinarian named Wu Duorong, has assumed the role of nuclear educator.
“Everyone knows there will be a nuclear power plant, but they don’t know how dangerous it will be,” he says as he digs through a pile of newspapers, looking for a specific headline. “But I read the newspapers every day, so I know and I tell them. You shouldn’t build these things near where people live.”
Nuclear nimbyism in China
8:09 PM With a nuclear power station just one kilometer away on the opposite bank of the Yangtze river, villagers from the rural hamlet of Shengli have protested to their provincial government and their efforts have led to a formal request to Beijing to suspend construction. Leslie Hook reports from Anhui province. (1m 57sec Video)
http://video.ft.com/v/1479918280001
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