China takes right path for expanding nuclear power
Saturday, 03 November, 2012
SCMP
Workers leave a nuclear power plant in Qinshan, Zhejiang
province. China is wary of nuclear energy but needs to cut reliance on carbon-intensive coal.
From every disaster there is a lesson and China has taken the calamity at Japan's Fukushima plant 19 months ago to heart. Rather than charging ahead with its ambitious programme, it has done what should be expected: stop, check, review and proceed cautiously.
http://digcan.com/nuclear
Under plans approved by the State Council, safety standards have been raised and construction of reactors will resume "steadily". It is exactly the approach needed amid so much public anxiety about nuclear energy.
Days before a tsunami, triggered by a massive earthquake, caused a partial meltdown at the Fukushima plant, Beijing had unveiled plans to become the global leader in nuclear energy by 2020. But amid an outcry about safety, it ordered checks on its 16 plants and a freeze on 26 others under construction.
Risks were identified and failings in management found, and these have been rectified. That is as it should be. Fukushima, and the world's worst accident at Chernobyl in Ukraine in 1986, show that when it comes to nuclear power, safety and preparedness can never be compromised.
But while the moratorium on projects has been lifted, the seemingly reckless drive that previously existed has been replaced by caution. No new targets have been set. Proposals for construction of reactors in inland provinces have also been dropped for three years.
Under the safety plan, a road map is laid out for the nation to attain international standards by 2020. A total of 79.8 billion yuan has been earmarked for upgrading security measures and promoting technological innovation to 2015. The early phasing out of older reactors, sharing and improving access to information, enhancing research and development of safety and improving the handling of radioactive waste has been recommended. These steps, coupled with transparency and regular updates of progress, are what are needed if public confidence in the nuclear power industry is to be restored.
Beijing has to gradually end its reliance on polluting coal and oil to produce electricity. Of the clean-energy alternatives, only nuclear can be considered reliable.
It is safe if reactors are properly built, maintained and operated. The Fukushima disaster was the result of a lack of preparedness and poor oversight. Maintaining the highest safety standards prevents accidents. Beijing's new cautious approach is the right way forward. But it also has to be transparent and keep the nation informed about the industry's every development.
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
The true extent of China's energy crisis
The true extent of China's energy crisis
Shujie Yao and Dan Luo say nation must rely on coal for now, which is bad news for the environment
Wednesday, 03 October, 2012
Shujie Yao and Dan Luo
When it comes to the sheer volume of investment in clean energy, China has no peers. Barely a month passes without the media reporting the latest government pledge to develop non-fossil-fuel sources or another ambitious renewable energy target. While commendable, these promises risk masking the true extent of China's future energy crisis - and its gloomy implications for global carbon emissions.
If China maintains close to its current gross domestic product growth rate, its energy demand will reach 5 billion tonnes of coal equivalent by 2020, far beyond previous estimates of 3.6 billion tonnes. That means, by 2020, China will need to consume 3 billion tonnes of coal and 640 million tonnes of oil each year. China's current annual oil production is steady at 200 million tonnes per year - an indication of the gulf that exists between supply and demand.
A dependence on oil imports will have huge implications for its foreign policy; diplomacy across the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia and Latin America will continue to be governed by its appetite for crude.
Amid growing urgency, the National Energy Administration has published its goal for renewable energy to supply 9.5 per cent of the country's total energy needs by the end of 2015. The government also wants to increase the share of non-fossil-fuel energy to 15 per cent of its total energy consumption by 2020 and 30 per cent by 2050. These are ambitious targets; a combination of insufficient infrastructure, immature technology and current pricing mechanisms are likely to render them unattainable.
The distribution of hydropower and wind resources in China is unbalanced. Large hydropower projects have been criticised for their damage to biodiversity, water quality and cultural heritage. And due to the intermittent nature of wind power, grid companies are reluctant to spend money to link up more wind farms.
Last month, the Chinese government ordered its electricity distributors to source up to 15 per cent of their power from renewable energy, including wind power. The target is again unrealistic. Current tariffs set by the government are too low to warrant investment by struggling wind power developers in the additional networks required to transmit electricity from the north and west to densely populated urban areas in the south and east.
China's solar industry has also faltered. Overcapacity has prompted a sharp fall in the price of solar panels and US anti-dumping duties, coupled with the euro-zone crisis, have cut overseas demand.
Nuclear energy offers China by far the most attractive renewable energy solution (nuclear is not renewable) . Despite limited uranium reserves, it is regarded as a quasi-domestic resource and can be purchased relatively cheaply on the international market.
Fuel costs account for only 5 per cent of a nuclear power plant's operating costs, compared to 40-60 per cent for coal and gas plants. Unlike in Japan, the Chinese public appears willing to accept nuclear power and local governments view it as a means to minimise electricity shortfalls, increase tax revenue and create jobs.
Yet the nuclear power industry is not developing fast enough to meet energy demand. It is being held back by a lack of technological expertise and established processes for the treatment of nuclear waste.
Energy pricing mechanisms are still heavily weighted towards coal use, offering little incentive to power companies to diversify. The average on-grid electricity price in China for wind power is 0.617 yuan (HK$0.75) per kilowatt-hour, while solar power and nuclear power cost 0.4 yuan per kWh and 0.436 yuan per kWh respectively. It is easy to see why coal - with a price of 0.346 yuan per kWh - will continue to be the primary energy resource in China for the foreseeable future.
This is grim news for the rest of the world, as any attempts to cut carbon emissions play out in the knowledge that, as reported by the Economist Intelligence Unit, China's coal consumption is expected to rise 35 per cent and carbon emissions by 43 per cent between 2010 and 2020. China will soon account for half the coal burned on the planet.
Realistically, China has no choice but to rely on coal in the short-to-medium term. In order to mitigate the serious environmental consequences, the government must lead the world in the deployment of advanced-coal technologies, such as coal gasification, liquefaction and carbon capture and storage.
The good, the bad and the ugly: Carbon capture and storage
http://q.gs/2JFJ6
A Bad Bet on Carbon
May 12, 2010
http://q.gs/2JFQU
Moreover, it must match its huge investment in clean technologies with structural policy changes, such as new fiscal and tax measures, to ensure renewable energy can compete on a level playing field with traditional fossil resources.
Failure to do so will result in the continuation of an unsustainable path of development, one that affects both China's long-term health and that of the rest of the world.
Shujie Yao is professor of economics and Chinese sustainable development, and head of the school of contemporary Chinese studies at the University of Nottingham, where Dan Luo is a lecturer in business and finance
Shujie Yao and Dan Luo say nation must rely on coal for now, which is bad news for the environment
Wednesday, 03 October, 2012
Shujie Yao and Dan Luo
When it comes to the sheer volume of investment in clean energy, China has no peers. Barely a month passes without the media reporting the latest government pledge to develop non-fossil-fuel sources or another ambitious renewable energy target. While commendable, these promises risk masking the true extent of China's future energy crisis - and its gloomy implications for global carbon emissions.
If China maintains close to its current gross domestic product growth rate, its energy demand will reach 5 billion tonnes of coal equivalent by 2020, far beyond previous estimates of 3.6 billion tonnes. That means, by 2020, China will need to consume 3 billion tonnes of coal and 640 million tonnes of oil each year. China's current annual oil production is steady at 200 million tonnes per year - an indication of the gulf that exists between supply and demand.
A dependence on oil imports will have huge implications for its foreign policy; diplomacy across the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia and Latin America will continue to be governed by its appetite for crude.
Amid growing urgency, the National Energy Administration has published its goal for renewable energy to supply 9.5 per cent of the country's total energy needs by the end of 2015. The government also wants to increase the share of non-fossil-fuel energy to 15 per cent of its total energy consumption by 2020 and 30 per cent by 2050. These are ambitious targets; a combination of insufficient infrastructure, immature technology and current pricing mechanisms are likely to render them unattainable.
The distribution of hydropower and wind resources in China is unbalanced. Large hydropower projects have been criticised for their damage to biodiversity, water quality and cultural heritage. And due to the intermittent nature of wind power, grid companies are reluctant to spend money to link up more wind farms.
Last month, the Chinese government ordered its electricity distributors to source up to 15 per cent of their power from renewable energy, including wind power. The target is again unrealistic. Current tariffs set by the government are too low to warrant investment by struggling wind power developers in the additional networks required to transmit electricity from the north and west to densely populated urban areas in the south and east.
China's solar industry has also faltered. Overcapacity has prompted a sharp fall in the price of solar panels and US anti-dumping duties, coupled with the euro-zone crisis, have cut overseas demand.
Nuclear energy offers China by far the most attractive renewable energy solution (nuclear is not renewable) . Despite limited uranium reserves, it is regarded as a quasi-domestic resource and can be purchased relatively cheaply on the international market.
Fuel costs account for only 5 per cent of a nuclear power plant's operating costs, compared to 40-60 per cent for coal and gas plants. Unlike in Japan, the Chinese public appears willing to accept nuclear power and local governments view it as a means to minimise electricity shortfalls, increase tax revenue and create jobs.
Yet the nuclear power industry is not developing fast enough to meet energy demand. It is being held back by a lack of technological expertise and established processes for the treatment of nuclear waste.
Energy pricing mechanisms are still heavily weighted towards coal use, offering little incentive to power companies to diversify. The average on-grid electricity price in China for wind power is 0.617 yuan (HK$0.75) per kilowatt-hour, while solar power and nuclear power cost 0.4 yuan per kWh and 0.436 yuan per kWh respectively. It is easy to see why coal - with a price of 0.346 yuan per kWh - will continue to be the primary energy resource in China for the foreseeable future.
This is grim news for the rest of the world, as any attempts to cut carbon emissions play out in the knowledge that, as reported by the Economist Intelligence Unit, China's coal consumption is expected to rise 35 per cent and carbon emissions by 43 per cent between 2010 and 2020. China will soon account for half the coal burned on the planet.
Realistically, China has no choice but to rely on coal in the short-to-medium term. In order to mitigate the serious environmental consequences, the government must lead the world in the deployment of advanced-coal technologies, such as coal gasification, liquefaction and carbon capture and storage.
The good, the bad and the ugly: Carbon capture and storage
http://q.gs/2JFJ6
A Bad Bet on Carbon
May 12, 2010
http://q.gs/2JFQU
Moreover, it must match its huge investment in clean technologies with structural policy changes, such as new fiscal and tax measures, to ensure renewable energy can compete on a level playing field with traditional fossil resources.
Failure to do so will result in the continuation of an unsustainable path of development, one that affects both China's long-term health and that of the rest of the world.
Shujie Yao is professor of economics and Chinese sustainable development, and head of the school of contemporary Chinese studies at the University of Nottingham, where Dan Luo is a lecturer in business and finance
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Pressing the Nuclear Restart Button - China
Pressing the Nuclear Restart Button
China will continue to safely develop nuclear power after a one-year construction hiatus
By Lan Xinzhen
UPDATED: February 27, 2012
NO.9 MARCH 1, 2012
NUCLEAR COOPERATION: Technicians work at the neutrino experiment facility of the Dayawan reactor in Guangdong Province. Since 2006, an international research team from 39 institutes in six countries are involved in the facility (LI MINGFANG)
After a year long suspension, construction of nuclear power facilities across China may be starting up again, signaling the resumption of a 1-trillion-yuan ($158.73 billion) nuclear investment across the country.
http://www.facebook.com/nuclearfree
http://www.facebook.com/nukefree
In February, Harbin Electric Corp., one of China's major nuclear power equipment producers, received an order for the main components required in nuclear power generation from Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant, located in Lianyungang, east China's Jiangsu Province. This was the first order since the country suspended nuclear power projects last March following the nuclear disaster at Fukushima, Japan.
Although nothing official has been announced, industry insiders say the suspension has been lifted, as the construction of the No.1 generating unit of Sanmen Nuclear Power Plant in east China's Zhejiang Province restarted, and three nuclear power-related planning reports were recently submitted to the State Council for review. The reports are expected to be officially released later this year.
Safety check
After the nuclear accident at Fukushima on March 11, 2011, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao chaired a State Council meeting on March 16 and made four decisions on China's nuclear power development: A complete safety check was required immediately on all nuclear facilities; approval of newly built nuclear power projects will be tightened; formulation of a nuclear safety plan will be accelerated; middle and long-term development plan of nuclear power will be readjusted, and before the plan is approved, approval of nuclear power projects, including preliminary work of the projects, should be suspended.
Following the meeting, a nation-wide safety screening on all operational and under-construction nuclear power facilities was put into effect, with approval of some construction projects suspended outright. From April 15 to August 5, the comprehensive check group on national civil nuclear facilities jointly organized by the National Nuclear Safety Administration (NNSA) of the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP), the National Energy Administration (NEA) and some other departments checked all the country's power plants.
The safety check drew lessons from the Fukushima accident, forcing many nuclear power operators to take a more aggressive approach to nuclear power safety.
On January 21, the generating units at the Ling'ao Nuclear Power Plant in South China's Guangdong Province were upgraded, which ended on February 10. The overhaul showed that the plant was in good condition. Starting on February 12, the generators at Tianwan began a 50-day overhaul, including 8,436 checks on individual components and technological upgrades.
Wang Binghua, Chairman of the State Nuclear Power Technology Corp., said besides safety check of nuclear power facilities in operation, designing, equipment manufacturing and construction of projects with third-generation AP1000 technology have been slowed down.
In fact, the AP1000 projects in Sanmen and Haiyang, east China's Shandong Province are safer than second-generation technology used at Fukushima. But China still places safety, not just technology upgrading, as its top priority in the construction of the third-generation nuclear power technology.
Capacity expanded
According to NEA's Readjustment Plan of Middle and Long-Term Development of Nuclear Power, which has been submitted to the State Council for approval, China plans to install a total nuclear power capacity of 80 million kilowatts (kw) by 2020.
Donghai Securities Co. Ltd. estimated that at least 60 million kw of nuclear power installed capacity will be added by 2020, excluding the capacity under construction now, which will drive up investment by 1.2 trillion yuan ($190.48 billion).
A plan previously issued by the National Development and Reform Commission says by 2020 the proportion of renewable energy among primary energy consumption will reach 15 percent, but in 2011, the proportion was only 8.9 percent, and nuclear power only accounted for 1.038 percent of the country's primary energy consumption.
Pan Ziqiang, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and an expert of nuclear radiation protection and environmental protection, said the disparity will be made up for mainly through development of nuclear power, because most exploitable hydropower resources have been developed, leaving little potential for future development. Also, restricted by technologies and natural conditions, wind power, solar energy and biomass energy are unlikely to see rapid development. Compared with other clean energies, only nuclear power can be developed in a large enough scale to meet China's energy needs.
An MEP news release showed that in the future China's safety standards for nuclear power will be raised. The Nuclear Safety Plan completed by the MEP and submitted to the State Council mainly focuses on supervision so as to improve the safety of nuclear power facilities and nuclear power utilization, reduce risks of radiation, ensure operation safety and safety to the environment and public health, and push forward safe, sound and sustainable development of nuclear energy and technology.
China has also made changes to its supervision mechanism for nuclear safety. The NEA will set up a nuclear power department, the NNSA will increase from one department to three and the number of nuclear safety supervision personnel will increase by 1,000, the State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense will also set up a department of nuclear emergencies.
Doubts remain
As China gears up to resume approval of nuclear power projects, arguments against construction of new nuclear power plants abound.
On February 7, a government document requiring the cessation of the nuclear power project construction in Pengze, Jiangxi Province attracted widespread attention on the Internet. The document was issued by the government of Wangjiang County, Anhui Province, as the project in Pengze sits along the Yangtze River, on the opposite shore from Wangjiang.
This report says Pengze nuclear power project will have hidden dangers if completed.
Establishment of Pengze nuclear power plant was approved two years ago, but was suspended by the State Council after the Fukushima accident last year.
The opposition of Wangjiang County Government is also supported by He Zuoxiu, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He published articles opposing construction of nuclear power plants in the inland areas of the country, mentioning that problems such as construction of Pengze nuclear power plant will be blocked by drought and nuclear power plants in inland areas will pollute rivers.
Pan said this reflects the fact that people are still concerned about the safety of nuclear power plants.
"From the safety and nuclear safety standards, there is no difference between inland and coastal nuclear power plants. The site of Pengze nuclear power project is good, and in principle its safety is ensured," Pan said.
According to Pan, China's provisions on preventing and protecting against environmental radiation in nuclear-powered factories impose detailed requirements on site selection and safety standards of nuclear-powered factories. Pengze nuclear power project is located along the Yangtze River, which has plenty of water and is highly capable of diluting and diffusing pollutants.
At present, China has approved a total of 43 nuclear power plants, with a planned capacity of 200 million kw. These plants are located in 16 provinces, including eight inland provinces such as Jiangxi and Anhui.
It is unknown whether opposition from Wangjiang can successfully stop construction of the Pengze project, but according to information from the environmental protection authority, since there are still big disputes on the safety of building nuclear power plants in inland areas, China will temporarily suspend approval of building nuclear power plants inland.
The voice of opposition against nuclear power has always existed in China. An organization named Ocean Protection Commune once organized a signature campaign from March 2006 to January 2008 opposing construction of nuclear power plants, and sent the signatures in written and electronic forms to the MEP and the State Oceanic Administration.
According to a media release from the Ocean Protection Commune, labeling nuclear power as "clean energy" is a total lie.
The commune thinks that there are risks of leaks during the transportation of nuclear fuels. It is also hard to ensure safety in disposal of nuclear waste.
If war breaks out, the enemy state will be able to cause serious nuclear radiation by targeting nuclear power plants, said the release.
The organization says these are problems faced by all nuclear power countries and as of now there is no safe solution.
China's Nuclear Power Plants in Operation
Ling'ao Plant Phase I
Located in Shenzhen, Guangdong, Ling'ao Nuclear Power Plant Phase I is the second large-scale commercial nuclear power plant built in Guangdong. It has two 990-megawatt PWR generating units, which came into commercial operation in May 2002 and January 2003, respectively.
Ling'ao Plant Phase II
Ling'ao Nuclear Power Plant Phase II is part of China's efforts to propel indigenous innovation as a majority of its technologies were domestically created. It has two 1,080-megawatt PWR generating units. The No.1 unit came into commercial operation in September 2010. The No. 2 unit came into commercial operation in August 2011.
Dayawan Plant
Located in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, Dayawan Nuclear Power Plant is the country's first large-scale commercial nuclear power plant that introduced foreign capital, equipment and technology. Its two 984-megawatt PWR generating units came into commercial operation in February and May 1994, respectively.
Tianwan Plant
Located in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant introduced nuclear power technologies from Russia. Its two 1,060-megawatt pressurized water reactor (PWR) generating units were put into commercial operation in May 2007 and August 2007, respectively.
Qinshan Plant Phase I
Located in Haiyan, Zhejiang Province, Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant Phase I is the first 300-megawatt PWR nuclear power plant independently designed, constructed, operated and managed by China. The plant came into commercial operation in April 1994.
Qinshan Plant Phase II
Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant Phase II is also a PWR plant. Its first two 650-megawatt generating units came into commercial operation in April 2002 and May 2004, respectively.
Its third generating unit, also with an installed capacity of 650-megawatt, came into commercial operation in October 2010.
Qinshan Plant Phase III
Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant Phase III adopts nuclear power technologies from Canada and is the first commercial heavy water nuclear reactor project. Its two 728-megawatt generating units came into commercial operation in December 2002 and July 2003, respectively.
China will continue to safely develop nuclear power after a one-year construction hiatus
By Lan Xinzhen
UPDATED: February 27, 2012
NO.9 MARCH 1, 2012
NUCLEAR COOPERATION: Technicians work at the neutrino experiment facility of the Dayawan reactor in Guangdong Province. Since 2006, an international research team from 39 institutes in six countries are involved in the facility (LI MINGFANG)
After a year long suspension, construction of nuclear power facilities across China may be starting up again, signaling the resumption of a 1-trillion-yuan ($158.73 billion) nuclear investment across the country.
http://www.facebook.com/nuclearfree
http://www.facebook.com/nukefree
In February, Harbin Electric Corp., one of China's major nuclear power equipment producers, received an order for the main components required in nuclear power generation from Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant, located in Lianyungang, east China's Jiangsu Province. This was the first order since the country suspended nuclear power projects last March following the nuclear disaster at Fukushima, Japan.
Although nothing official has been announced, industry insiders say the suspension has been lifted, as the construction of the No.1 generating unit of Sanmen Nuclear Power Plant in east China's Zhejiang Province restarted, and three nuclear power-related planning reports were recently submitted to the State Council for review. The reports are expected to be officially released later this year.
Safety check
After the nuclear accident at Fukushima on March 11, 2011, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao chaired a State Council meeting on March 16 and made four decisions on China's nuclear power development: A complete safety check was required immediately on all nuclear facilities; approval of newly built nuclear power projects will be tightened; formulation of a nuclear safety plan will be accelerated; middle and long-term development plan of nuclear power will be readjusted, and before the plan is approved, approval of nuclear power projects, including preliminary work of the projects, should be suspended.
Following the meeting, a nation-wide safety screening on all operational and under-construction nuclear power facilities was put into effect, with approval of some construction projects suspended outright. From April 15 to August 5, the comprehensive check group on national civil nuclear facilities jointly organized by the National Nuclear Safety Administration (NNSA) of the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP), the National Energy Administration (NEA) and some other departments checked all the country's power plants.
The safety check drew lessons from the Fukushima accident, forcing many nuclear power operators to take a more aggressive approach to nuclear power safety.
On January 21, the generating units at the Ling'ao Nuclear Power Plant in South China's Guangdong Province were upgraded, which ended on February 10. The overhaul showed that the plant was in good condition. Starting on February 12, the generators at Tianwan began a 50-day overhaul, including 8,436 checks on individual components and technological upgrades.
Wang Binghua, Chairman of the State Nuclear Power Technology Corp., said besides safety check of nuclear power facilities in operation, designing, equipment manufacturing and construction of projects with third-generation AP1000 technology have been slowed down.
In fact, the AP1000 projects in Sanmen and Haiyang, east China's Shandong Province are safer than second-generation technology used at Fukushima. But China still places safety, not just technology upgrading, as its top priority in the construction of the third-generation nuclear power technology.
Capacity expanded
According to NEA's Readjustment Plan of Middle and Long-Term Development of Nuclear Power, which has been submitted to the State Council for approval, China plans to install a total nuclear power capacity of 80 million kilowatts (kw) by 2020.
Donghai Securities Co. Ltd. estimated that at least 60 million kw of nuclear power installed capacity will be added by 2020, excluding the capacity under construction now, which will drive up investment by 1.2 trillion yuan ($190.48 billion).
A plan previously issued by the National Development and Reform Commission says by 2020 the proportion of renewable energy among primary energy consumption will reach 15 percent, but in 2011, the proportion was only 8.9 percent, and nuclear power only accounted for 1.038 percent of the country's primary energy consumption.
Pan Ziqiang, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and an expert of nuclear radiation protection and environmental protection, said the disparity will be made up for mainly through development of nuclear power, because most exploitable hydropower resources have been developed, leaving little potential for future development. Also, restricted by technologies and natural conditions, wind power, solar energy and biomass energy are unlikely to see rapid development. Compared with other clean energies, only nuclear power can be developed in a large enough scale to meet China's energy needs.
An MEP news release showed that in the future China's safety standards for nuclear power will be raised. The Nuclear Safety Plan completed by the MEP and submitted to the State Council mainly focuses on supervision so as to improve the safety of nuclear power facilities and nuclear power utilization, reduce risks of radiation, ensure operation safety and safety to the environment and public health, and push forward safe, sound and sustainable development of nuclear energy and technology.
China has also made changes to its supervision mechanism for nuclear safety. The NEA will set up a nuclear power department, the NNSA will increase from one department to three and the number of nuclear safety supervision personnel will increase by 1,000, the State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense will also set up a department of nuclear emergencies.
Doubts remain
As China gears up to resume approval of nuclear power projects, arguments against construction of new nuclear power plants abound.
On February 7, a government document requiring the cessation of the nuclear power project construction in Pengze, Jiangxi Province attracted widespread attention on the Internet. The document was issued by the government of Wangjiang County, Anhui Province, as the project in Pengze sits along the Yangtze River, on the opposite shore from Wangjiang.
This report says Pengze nuclear power project will have hidden dangers if completed.
Establishment of Pengze nuclear power plant was approved two years ago, but was suspended by the State Council after the Fukushima accident last year.
The opposition of Wangjiang County Government is also supported by He Zuoxiu, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He published articles opposing construction of nuclear power plants in the inland areas of the country, mentioning that problems such as construction of Pengze nuclear power plant will be blocked by drought and nuclear power plants in inland areas will pollute rivers.
Pan said this reflects the fact that people are still concerned about the safety of nuclear power plants.
"From the safety and nuclear safety standards, there is no difference between inland and coastal nuclear power plants. The site of Pengze nuclear power project is good, and in principle its safety is ensured," Pan said.
According to Pan, China's provisions on preventing and protecting against environmental radiation in nuclear-powered factories impose detailed requirements on site selection and safety standards of nuclear-powered factories. Pengze nuclear power project is located along the Yangtze River, which has plenty of water and is highly capable of diluting and diffusing pollutants.
At present, China has approved a total of 43 nuclear power plants, with a planned capacity of 200 million kw. These plants are located in 16 provinces, including eight inland provinces such as Jiangxi and Anhui.
It is unknown whether opposition from Wangjiang can successfully stop construction of the Pengze project, but according to information from the environmental protection authority, since there are still big disputes on the safety of building nuclear power plants in inland areas, China will temporarily suspend approval of building nuclear power plants inland.
The voice of opposition against nuclear power has always existed in China. An organization named Ocean Protection Commune once organized a signature campaign from March 2006 to January 2008 opposing construction of nuclear power plants, and sent the signatures in written and electronic forms to the MEP and the State Oceanic Administration.
According to a media release from the Ocean Protection Commune, labeling nuclear power as "clean energy" is a total lie.
The commune thinks that there are risks of leaks during the transportation of nuclear fuels. It is also hard to ensure safety in disposal of nuclear waste.
If war breaks out, the enemy state will be able to cause serious nuclear radiation by targeting nuclear power plants, said the release.
The organization says these are problems faced by all nuclear power countries and as of now there is no safe solution.
China's Nuclear Power Plants in Operation
Ling'ao Plant Phase I
Located in Shenzhen, Guangdong, Ling'ao Nuclear Power Plant Phase I is the second large-scale commercial nuclear power plant built in Guangdong. It has two 990-megawatt PWR generating units, which came into commercial operation in May 2002 and January 2003, respectively.
Ling'ao Plant Phase II
Ling'ao Nuclear Power Plant Phase II is part of China's efforts to propel indigenous innovation as a majority of its technologies were domestically created. It has two 1,080-megawatt PWR generating units. The No.1 unit came into commercial operation in September 2010. The No. 2 unit came into commercial operation in August 2011.
Dayawan Plant
Located in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, Dayawan Nuclear Power Plant is the country's first large-scale commercial nuclear power plant that introduced foreign capital, equipment and technology. Its two 984-megawatt PWR generating units came into commercial operation in February and May 1994, respectively.
Tianwan Plant
Located in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant introduced nuclear power technologies from Russia. Its two 1,060-megawatt pressurized water reactor (PWR) generating units were put into commercial operation in May 2007 and August 2007, respectively.
Qinshan Plant Phase I
Located in Haiyan, Zhejiang Province, Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant Phase I is the first 300-megawatt PWR nuclear power plant independently designed, constructed, operated and managed by China. The plant came into commercial operation in April 1994.
Qinshan Plant Phase II
Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant Phase II is also a PWR plant. Its first two 650-megawatt generating units came into commercial operation in April 2002 and May 2004, respectively.
Its third generating unit, also with an installed capacity of 650-megawatt, came into commercial operation in October 2010.
Qinshan Plant Phase III
Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant Phase III adopts nuclear power technologies from Canada and is the first commercial heavy water nuclear reactor project. Its two 728-megawatt generating units came into commercial operation in December 2002 and July 2003, respectively.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
China grapples with its own ‘Kudankulam’ protests - Pengze nuclear power plant
China grapples with its own ‘Kudankulam’ protests
Venky Vembu
Mar 1, 2012
Firstpost
China is facing its own ‘Kudankulam’ moment: a people’s protest against a nuclear power plant that is still under construction, but has raised fears in the local populace ever since the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year.
http://www.facebook.com/nuclearfree
http://www.facebook.com/nukefree
The protest in Wangjiang village in Anhui province, one of China’s poorest, is directed at the Pengze nuclear power plant that is coming up in neighbouring Jiangxi province, along the mighty Yangtze river.
In that sense, it also has parallels with the ‘Mullaperiyar dam’ crisis in India, where the benefits from a project are seen to accrue predominantly to one State, whereas fears of a catastrophic accident are felt rather more in a neighbouring State.
Indicatively, to build the Three Gorges Dam, inarguably the most ambitious hydropower projects in the world.
The Pengze plant, which is not along the coast (unlike the one at Fukushima) but in an inland province, is one of an estimated 60 that China, ravenously hungry for energy, plans to commission by 2020 as it cuts back on polluting coal-based thermal power plants. Nuclear power accounts for barely 2 percent of China’s electricity production, but there are plans to ramp it up to 5 percent over the next decade.
If the protest at Wangjiang village intensifies, it could upset those ambitious plans, but given the nature of civil society protests in China and the low tolerance for such agitations, this may not get much traction once the government sets its mind to it.
Indicatively, to build the Three Gorges Dam, inarguably the most ambitious hydropower projects in the world, more than 1.2 million people were displaced – in many cases forcibly.
The dam that “tamed the Yangtze” – and realised one of Chinese leader Mao Zedong’s dreams – is now proving ecologically ruinous, but when the government wanted it done, it was done, even if the project was low on foresight.
In Wangjiang, villagers were awakened to the potential for disaster after Beijing reviewed safety procedures last year in the wake of the Fukushima meltdown.
But they didn’t organise street protests or demonstrations in the way the anti-nuclear protestors at Kudankulam project are doing.
Instead, they have been petitioning their local government authorities against the Pengze plant.
The local government leaders sent on the petition to provincial-level leaders (who in turn forwarded it to central level energy officials), and followed it up with a resolution passed in the local party congress voicing opposition to the Pengze plant.
The villagers, who are mostly farmers, accused Jiangxi province authorities of having fudged population density figures so as to secure approval for the plant.
Under Jiangxi provincial law, no approval can be given if more than 100,000 people reside within a 10-km radius of a nuclear power plant.
Wangjiang officials claim that that their village alone, which falls within 10 km of the plant has more than 150,000 people.
Protestors also cite the instances of recent seismic activity in the area – including an earthquake in 2011 that measured 4.6 on the Richter scale – to pitch their case that the plant is unsafe.
On the other hand, Jiangxi officials claim that the plant is supremely safe, and the only thing to ooze from the reactors will be economic prosperity for the surrounding local communities.
The safety of China’s nuclear plants was the subject of several WikiLeaks cables that were leaked, like radioactive waste, last year.
But as much as they reflected genuine concerns for safety, they were also seen to be an effort by the US energy giant Westinghouse to expand its marketshare in the lucrative Chinese nuclear power market by talking down the indigenous Chinese technology on the ground that it was dated and unsafe.
China, noted a cable from August 2008, is “vastly increasing the aggregate risk of its nuclear power fleet.” The cable, which took note of an interaction with Westinghouse China CEO, said that China’s indigenously built reactors – the CPR-1000, which were based on old Westinghouse technology from its AP1000 reactor – were gaining marketshare.
“Rather than building a fleet of state-of-the-art reactors,” the cable said, “China is assuring that they will be burdened with technology that by the end of its lifetime will be 100 years old.”
And by bypassing the “passive safety technology” of Westinghouse’s AP1000 – which shuts down a reactor automatically in the event of an accident and which it claimed was 100 times safer than China’s CPR-1000 – China was “vastly increasing the aggregate risk of its nuclear power fleet.”
Wangjiang villagers are perhaps giving voice to similar concerns about the safety of the Pengze plant – and to that extent are echoing the sentiment of the Kudankulam protesters in faraway Tamil Nadu. But that apart, the level of tolerance that the anti-nuclear ‘protestors’ enjoy in China will be a test of the leaders’ readiness to listen to anxiety over the plant.
For campaigners against the Kudankulam project, who perhaps feel that their grievances are not being heard, it may prove a contrasting case study in the nature of governmental response to popular protests.
Venky Vembu
Mar 1, 2012
Firstpost
China is facing its own ‘Kudankulam’ moment: a people’s protest against a nuclear power plant that is still under construction, but has raised fears in the local populace ever since the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year.
http://www.facebook.com/nuclearfree
http://www.facebook.com/nukefree
The protest in Wangjiang village in Anhui province, one of China’s poorest, is directed at the Pengze nuclear power plant that is coming up in neighbouring Jiangxi province, along the mighty Yangtze river.
In that sense, it also has parallels with the ‘Mullaperiyar dam’ crisis in India, where the benefits from a project are seen to accrue predominantly to one State, whereas fears of a catastrophic accident are felt rather more in a neighbouring State.
Indicatively, to build the Three Gorges Dam, inarguably the most ambitious hydropower projects in the world.
The Pengze plant, which is not along the coast (unlike the one at Fukushima) but in an inland province, is one of an estimated 60 that China, ravenously hungry for energy, plans to commission by 2020 as it cuts back on polluting coal-based thermal power plants. Nuclear power accounts for barely 2 percent of China’s electricity production, but there are plans to ramp it up to 5 percent over the next decade.
If the protest at Wangjiang village intensifies, it could upset those ambitious plans, but given the nature of civil society protests in China and the low tolerance for such agitations, this may not get much traction once the government sets its mind to it.
Indicatively, to build the Three Gorges Dam, inarguably the most ambitious hydropower projects in the world, more than 1.2 million people were displaced – in many cases forcibly.
The dam that “tamed the Yangtze” – and realised one of Chinese leader Mao Zedong’s dreams – is now proving ecologically ruinous, but when the government wanted it done, it was done, even if the project was low on foresight.
In Wangjiang, villagers were awakened to the potential for disaster after Beijing reviewed safety procedures last year in the wake of the Fukushima meltdown.
But they didn’t organise street protests or demonstrations in the way the anti-nuclear protestors at Kudankulam project are doing.
Instead, they have been petitioning their local government authorities against the Pengze plant.
The local government leaders sent on the petition to provincial-level leaders (who in turn forwarded it to central level energy officials), and followed it up with a resolution passed in the local party congress voicing opposition to the Pengze plant.
The villagers, who are mostly farmers, accused Jiangxi province authorities of having fudged population density figures so as to secure approval for the plant.
Under Jiangxi provincial law, no approval can be given if more than 100,000 people reside within a 10-km radius of a nuclear power plant.
Wangjiang officials claim that that their village alone, which falls within 10 km of the plant has more than 150,000 people.
Protestors also cite the instances of recent seismic activity in the area – including an earthquake in 2011 that measured 4.6 on the Richter scale – to pitch their case that the plant is unsafe.
On the other hand, Jiangxi officials claim that the plant is supremely safe, and the only thing to ooze from the reactors will be economic prosperity for the surrounding local communities.
The safety of China’s nuclear plants was the subject of several WikiLeaks cables that were leaked, like radioactive waste, last year.
But as much as they reflected genuine concerns for safety, they were also seen to be an effort by the US energy giant Westinghouse to expand its marketshare in the lucrative Chinese nuclear power market by talking down the indigenous Chinese technology on the ground that it was dated and unsafe.
China, noted a cable from August 2008, is “vastly increasing the aggregate risk of its nuclear power fleet.” The cable, which took note of an interaction with Westinghouse China CEO, said that China’s indigenously built reactors – the CPR-1000, which were based on old Westinghouse technology from its AP1000 reactor – were gaining marketshare.
“Rather than building a fleet of state-of-the-art reactors,” the cable said, “China is assuring that they will be burdened with technology that by the end of its lifetime will be 100 years old.”
And by bypassing the “passive safety technology” of Westinghouse’s AP1000 – which shuts down a reactor automatically in the event of an accident and which it claimed was 100 times safer than China’s CPR-1000 – China was “vastly increasing the aggregate risk of its nuclear power fleet.”
Wangjiang villagers are perhaps giving voice to similar concerns about the safety of the Pengze plant – and to that extent are echoing the sentiment of the Kudankulam protesters in faraway Tamil Nadu. But that apart, the level of tolerance that the anti-nuclear ‘protestors’ enjoy in China will be a test of the leaders’ readiness to listen to anxiety over the plant.
For campaigners against the Kudankulam project, who perhaps feel that their grievances are not being heard, it may prove a contrasting case study in the nature of governmental response to popular protests.
China nuclear protest builds steam - Pengze nuclear power station
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
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
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Counties face off over nuclear plant, Pengze, Jiangxi Province, China
Counties face off over nuclear plant
Global Times | February 09, 2012
By Zheng Yi
The Global Times
A campaign initiated by authorities in Central China's Wangjiang county, Anhui Province 安徽望江縣 aimed at halting the construction of a nuclear power plant in a neighboring county has drawn nationwide attention after a report handed to higher authorities was posted online recently.
Sun Bin, from the publicity department of the Wangjiang Development and Reform Commission, confirmed to the Global Times Wednesday that the government handed the report to the Anhui Development and Reform Commission in November, in a bid to stop the nuclear power plant from being built. Provincial authorities are planning to pass the report to the State government for a decision, according to Sun.
According to information on the official website of the Jiangxi branch of the China Power Investment Corporation, the nuclear plant, located in Pengze, Jiangxi Province 江西å½æ¾¤, is expected to start operations in 2015, and will have an annual capacity of 60 billion kilowatt hours, more than the entire capacity of Jiangxi's current coal-burning power plants. Preparation work for construction is complete, according to the website.
http://easss.com/nuclear
However, the project has met with strong opposition from across the Yangtze River in the neighboring county of Wangjiang.
According to the report, the plant would be in violation of a regulation issued by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, which states that nuclear power plants should not be built within 10 kilometers of cities with a population over 100,000 people. Several townships in Wangjiang are located within 10 kilometers from the plant.
"We all believe the plant is a time bomb," Sun told the Global Times.
The report also pointed out that the plant is located in a fault zone with frequent occurrences of earthquakes, a fact that was not mentioned in the plant's environmental evaluation report.
Construction on the nuclear plant has been suspended and is awaiting reevaluation after the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan in March, according to Zhang.
Calls from the Global Times to the Pengze nuclear power office went unanswered Wednesday.
"Nuclear power plants will cause little pollution only if they are built more than 10 kilometers away from cities with dense populations, and they are safe for nearby residents if they release fewer than 250 mSv in radiation per year," Feng Weiheng, chief expert in radiation prevention at the Shanghai Environmental Protection Industry Association, told the Global Times Wednesday.
At present, six nuclear power plants have been put into use in China and another 12 are under construction, while preparation work on the construction of 28 plants is underway.
According to a State plan released in 2007, by 2020, nuclear power installed capacity will reach 40 million kilowatts.
Operations at a number of power plants were suspended after the Fukushima nuclear leak.
Global Times | February 09, 2012
By Zheng Yi
The Global Times
A campaign initiated by authorities in Central China's Wangjiang county, Anhui Province 安徽望江縣 aimed at halting the construction of a nuclear power plant in a neighboring county has drawn nationwide attention after a report handed to higher authorities was posted online recently.
Sun Bin, from the publicity department of the Wangjiang Development and Reform Commission, confirmed to the Global Times Wednesday that the government handed the report to the Anhui Development and Reform Commission in November, in a bid to stop the nuclear power plant from being built. Provincial authorities are planning to pass the report to the State government for a decision, according to Sun.
According to information on the official website of the Jiangxi branch of the China Power Investment Corporation, the nuclear plant, located in Pengze, Jiangxi Province 江西å½æ¾¤, is expected to start operations in 2015, and will have an annual capacity of 60 billion kilowatt hours, more than the entire capacity of Jiangxi's current coal-burning power plants. Preparation work for construction is complete, according to the website.
http://easss.com/nuclear
However, the project has met with strong opposition from across the Yangtze River in the neighboring county of Wangjiang.
According to the report, the plant would be in violation of a regulation issued by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, which states that nuclear power plants should not be built within 10 kilometers of cities with a population over 100,000 people. Several townships in Wangjiang are located within 10 kilometers from the plant.
"We all believe the plant is a time bomb," Sun told the Global Times.
The report also pointed out that the plant is located in a fault zone with frequent occurrences of earthquakes, a fact that was not mentioned in the plant's environmental evaluation report.
Construction on the nuclear plant has been suspended and is awaiting reevaluation after the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan in March, according to Zhang.
Calls from the Global Times to the Pengze nuclear power office went unanswered Wednesday.
"Nuclear power plants will cause little pollution only if they are built more than 10 kilometers away from cities with dense populations, and they are safe for nearby residents if they release fewer than 250 mSv in radiation per year," Feng Weiheng, chief expert in radiation prevention at the Shanghai Environmental Protection Industry Association, told the Global Times Wednesday.
At present, six nuclear power plants have been put into use in China and another 12 are under construction, while preparation work on the construction of 28 plants is underway.
According to a State plan released in 2007, by 2020, nuclear power installed capacity will reach 40 million kilowatts.
Operations at a number of power plants were suspended after the Fukushima nuclear leak.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Greenpeace on China Climate Change Policy By The Diplomat
Greenpeace on China By The Diplomat
December 20, 2011
The Diplomat speaks with Li Yan, head of Greenpeace East Asia’s Climate and Energy Campaign, to discuss China’s climate change policy.
What are your thoughts on the recent climate change accord reached in Durban? Do you feel it’s a good step towards a comprehensive treaty or a step in the wrong direction?
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The world urgently needs a fair, ambitious and legally binding (FAB) deal to prevent climate catastrophe. Copenhagen should have delivered that deal. After two years in Durban there was some progress towards a FAB deal, with the Kyoto Protocol second commitment period confirmed. Countries also agreed to start negotiating for a new legally binding treaty that applies to all countries, including China, India and the U.S., which needs to be sealed no later than 2015.
As to the second part of your question: Yes,this is the right direction, and global climate negotiation now enters a new era. However, the process laid out in Durban is worryingly slow and with fatal loopholes. If this next big climate deal will be applicable only “from 2020,” as the U.S. inserted in the Durban agreement, it can easily be delayed for more than a decade and we risk missing the window of opportunity to keep the global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius.
The process to agree a comprehensive global climate treaty needs to be accelerated, and countries registered in such a binding treaty must honor their commitment.
China is now the world’s leading emitter of CO2. Do you feel China is doing enough to limit and lower such emissions? Do you feel China is taking adequate steps to tackle its global contribution to climate change? What steps would you recommend that China take to reduce or lower its CO2 emissions?
China has made impressive efforts to cut back its carbon emission growth, and it’s fair to say that China is doing much better than many other countries, including industrialized ones. However, with the rapid growth of emissions, China needs – and has the capability – to do more.
China’s 11th Five Year Plan (2006-2010) set binding targets to save energy and cut back traditional pollutant emissions. According to official calculations, this has led to 1.5 billion tons in carbon emission reductions. It was a good starting point and has sent a strong political signal to the government system, though at the end of 11th Five Year Plan, the final progress was quite difficult. But China almost achieved its 20 percent energy intensity reduction objective.
However in the 12th Five Year Plan, starting this year, the central government set an energy intensity reduction target at 16 percent (by end of 2015 based on 2010 levels) and a carbon intensity target of 17 percent. These goals aren’t ambitious enough. This isn’t sufficient to force local governments and industries to shift away from energy intensive growth models. Partly as a result of this rather low target, the first 10 months of 2011 only saw an energy intensity reduction of 1.6 percent, falling far behind the scheduled 3.5 percent reduction benchmark supposed to be achieved as the first year of the latest plan. There will be more difficulties for China in delivering its targets if it can’t put a brake on its fast expansion of energy intensive industries and booming coal consumption.
Coal burning is the biggest single source of CO2 emissions in China. With heavy reliance on coal burning as an energy source – it accounts for around 70 percent of energy demands – China is now facing severe environmental and social problem as well as growing energy security concerns. Moving away from coal and introducing more renewable energy into its energy mix is an unavoidable direction for China. One ongoing discussion is whether or not China can, step by step, put absolute limits on its coal consumption.
China is also expanding the amount of nuclear power plants it operates. Do you feel China can adequately secure and store the nuclear waste that will result?
Nuclear is deemed by many in China as the clean energy solution, but it’s not. Environmental and safety issues must be taken into consideration in China’s ambitious nuclear development plan.
There is currently no clear law or regulation to manage nuclear power development and mitigate its risk. The nuclear safety code is still being compiled after Fukushima. The Fukushima tragedy was another sad example of the fact that there’s barely anything humanity can do to stop the dangerous impact of a nuclear plant accident caused by natural disasters. China’s newly designed plants are mostly located near large populations, and under climate change circumstances, extreme weather events could be more frequent and severe, which makes it even more risky and challenging to ensure public safety.
Much has been made in the west of China's investments in “green energy.” Do you feel China has assumed a leadership role in green technology? Do you feel China can use such technology to make a dent in its CO2 emissions?
According to a recent U.N. Environment Program report, China has surpassed the United States in renewable energy investment in 2010, making it now the world’s largest. This has created a buzz that China is leading the race to renewable energies. Clearly, China is taking the lead in many areas of green energy development. In 2010, China’s wind power installation capacity was about 42GW, which places China as the biggest installation country globally.
Most of the renewable energy installation is in western areas, since the natural sources are better than the eastern parts.
However, there are still bottlenecks that stop China from being an even bigger utilizer of renewable energy. The biggest one is the difficulty in grid access. Nearly 30 percent of wind turbines established have no access to the state grid, and similar problems are emerging in solar power generation as well. Technology isn’t the problem, but more the lack of willingness and action from the grid company. If China could solve the grid connection issue, renewable energy will play a more important role in China’s energy mix, which will definitely contribute to its CO2 reduction.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Bill Gates Building Nuke Plant for China
Bill Gates Building Nuke Plant for China
BY SAM BIDDLE
DEC 8, 2011
gizmodo.com
What do you do when you've run out of things to spend money on, and everyone already uses your software? How about developing a nuclear plant with China? Sure! Bill Gates is doing just that, the AP reports. For science?
Although Gates says his baby nuclear energy company, TerraPower, is having "very good discussions" with China regarding the plant, the fact that he's throwing in a billion dollars over 5 years sounds like more than talk.
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The plant, however, will be a "Generation IV" reactor, which for now exists only on paper—and the tech isn't expected to start materializing until for at least a decade.
Gen IV cores are expected to be safer, more efficient, create less waste that fades earlier, and essentially address every possible criticism about nuclear power. Again, on paper.
So why China, Bill? Their society is far more open to nuclear power than ours, especially post-Fukushima.
But it's also probably easier to use some remote Chinese backwater as a testbed for an untested form of nuclear energy.
When Gates says, with quintessential hubris, that "[the reactor will] require no human action to remain safe at all times," you have every reason to raise an eyebrow.
The international forum behind Gen IV nuclear says it's "developing safety design criteria for Generation IV nuclear power plants that reflect lessons learned from Fukushima."
Stripping human oversight from a nuclear reactor doesn't sound like a lesson learned.
Bill Gates Talking With China To Develop Nuclear Reactor
Bill Gates Talking With China To Develop Nuclear Reactor
December 7, 2011
BEIJING (AP) — Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates confirmed Wednesday he is in discussions with China to jointly develop a new and safer kind of nuclear reactor.
“The idea is to be very low cost, very safe and generate very little waste,” said the billionaire during a talk at China’s Ministry of Science and Technology.
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Gates said he had largely funded a Washington state-based company, TerraPower, that is developing a Generation IV nuclear reactor that can run on depleted uranium.
TerraPower says it has discussed its plans with India, Russia and other countries with nuclear energy programs.
The general manager of state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation, Sun Qin, was quoted in Chinese media last week saying Gates was working with it to research and develop a reactor.
“TerraPower is having very good discussions with CNNC and various people in the Chinese government,” said Gates, cautioning the talks were at an early stage.
Gates says perhaps as much as a billion dollars will be put into research and development over the next five years.
TerraPower says its traveling wave reactor would run for decades on depleted uranium and produce significantly smaller amounts of nuclear waste than conventional reactors.
“All these new designs are going to be incredibly safe,” Gates told the audience. “They require no human action to remain safe at all times.”
He said they also benefit from an ability to simulate earthquake and tidal wave conditions. “It takes safety to a new level,” he said.
Since leaving Microsoft Corp., Gates has concentrated on philanthropy and advocating on public health, education and clean energy issues. He is an investor and strategic adviser to TerraPower.
Gates was at the Ministry of Science and Technology to talk about a joint project between China and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support innovative research and development to help alleviate poverty.
Gates said the ministry will help identify entrepreneurs and companies to manufacture new products in global health and agriculture to “change the lives of poor people,” including new vaccines and diagnostics and genetically modified seeds.
“China has a lot to contribute because it’s solved many of the problems of poverty, not all of them but a lot of them, itself, and many Asian, south Asian and African countries are well behind, whether it’s agriculture or health,” said Gates.
No specific poverty alleviation projects were mentioned.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
China's Qinshan nuclear power plant in safe operation for 20 years
China's Qinshan nuclear power plant in safe operation for 20 years
2011-11-26
(Xinhua)
BEIJING, November 26 (Xinhua) -- China's first-ever nuclear power plant, Qinshan nuclear power plant has maintained safe and stable operation for 20 years, according to a symposium held by China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) on Saturday.
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During the past two decades, Qinshan nuclear power plant, situated not far away from Shanghai, has caused no accidents that either endangered human safety or impacted the environment, and all its nuclear radiation indicators are not beyond the background radiation levels of the natural environment.
From December 1991 when it started operation to October 2011, the Qinshan nuke generated 40.5 billion kWh of electricity, equivalent to saving 16 million tonnes of standard coal, or cutting 40 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions and 1.2 million tonnes of sulfur dioxide emissions.
Sun Qin, president of CNNC, said at the symposium that nuclear power remains a practical choice for China at the current stage, and that the company will continue exerting efforts to ensure nuclear security and explore more advanced technologies for safe and efficient development of nuclear energy in the nation.
The first phase of Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant was the first nuclear power plant on the Chinese mainland which was designed, built and operated independently by domestic engineers.
The plant also has second and third phases.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Uncertainty lingers for China’s nuclear power policy
Uncertainty lingers for China’s power policy
By Leslie Hook in Beijing
11/15/2011
FT
Less than a week after the Fukushima disaster, China suspended approvals for new nuclear plants and announced a sweeping review of nuclear safety and atomic energy laws and regulations.
It was an abrupt U-turn for China’s technocratic leaders, a group of mostly engineers who have historically embraced nuclear power as a solution for China’s energy needs.
http://www.facebook.com/nuclearfree
http://www.facebook.com/nukefree
China’s move was a blow to the global nuclear industry as the country had played a pivotal role in the global nuclear renaissance of the past decade. Twenty-seven reactors are under construction in China today, more than 40 per cent of the global total, according to data from the World Nuclear Association, and about 10 more were on track to be approved this year before the suspension.
Uncertainty now lingers over China’s nuclear sector. The government says it will resume new approvals after completing the Atomic Energy Law as well as new safety codes, but few details about those policies have emerged during the drafting process.
Zhang Guobao, a senior energy policymaker, has said the new rules may be completed next spring.
“You have to remember that China has not renounced nuclear power,” he recently told state media. “After next March we hope that the international and Chinese understanding toward nuclear will take a turn for the better, and perhaps resume its path of development.”
Despite such reassurances from Chinese officials, analysts have quietly lowered their forecasts for China’s nuclear installations over the next decade.
“We have cut down our nuclear power capacity target from around 86GW in 2020 to 56GW in 2020,” says Rajesh Panjwani, analyst at CLSA in Hong Kong.
Others point out that China’s pause in nuclear development could create an opening for more advanced technologies to enter the Chinese market.
“The suspension of new approvals will probably slow down the original plant build-up and may change the technology mix a little bit, favouring the third generation technologies that are intrinsically safer,” says Zhou Xizhou, associate director of IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates in Beijing.
So-called “third generation” reactors are considered to be safer than previous reactors because they employ passive cooling systems making it much less likely that a nuclear meltdown or radioactive leak will occur.
Both Westinghouse’s AP1000 and Areva’s EPR – competing “third generation” designs – are being built in China. The AP1000 is the foundation for an indigenous Chinese third-generation reactor, the CP1000, which is expected to be the backbone of China’s new nuclear build-up in the decade to come.
China is also developing another promising nuclear technology: “pebble bed” reactors, so called because they are fuelled by pebble-shaped balls of thorium or uranium. These reactors are a fraction of the size of traditional reactors and are considered much safer to operate.
This summer construction quietly started on a demonstration pebble bed reactor project that, according to the World Nuclear Association, is the most advance modular project in the world and will eventually operate 18 small reactors in Shandong province.
China National Nuclear Corporation and China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group, China’s leading nuclear companies, have said little about the approval suspension beyond announcing that they had completed mandatory post-Fukushima safety reviews at their plants.
But they remain confident in China’s nuclear future. As Su Qin, head of CNNC, put it in a recent speech: “For China, developing nuclear power is not a choice, but a necessity.”
Monday, October 31, 2011
China Daya Bay Nuclear Plant
China Daya Bay Nuclear Plant
China Nuclear Plant Workers Exposed to Radiation, South China Post Reports
By John Duce - Nov 16, 2010 7:44 AM GMT+0800
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-15/china-nuclear-plant-workers-exposed-to-radiation-south-china-post-reports.html
Daya Bay workers exposed to radiation Leak equivalent to two X-rays, plant boss says
Martin Wong and Cheung Chi-fai
Nov 16, 2010
Workers at the Daya Bay nuclear power station were exposed to radiation equal to two chest X-rays after a flaw developed in a pipe carrying hot water from one of the station's two reactors....
http://www.ecfchina.com/news/43036.shtml
http://www.china-defense-mashup.com/china-nuclear-plant-workers-exposed-to-radiation-south-china-post-reports.html
http://ffggippsland.blogspot.com/2010/11/china-nuclear-plant-workers-exposed-to.html
Daya workers in radiation scare but CLP denies harm
Dennis Chong
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=30&art_id=105003&sid=30313465&con_type=1
Nuclear Power in China
Nuclear Power in China
Updated 10 December 2010
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf63.html
China claims new nuclear technology
China state media claims scientists have mastered a key technique to reprocess spent uranium
Jonathan Watts in Beijing
guardian.co.uk, Monday 3 January 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/03/china-claims-new-nuclear-technology
China Ready to Reprocess Nuclear Fuel
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
January 3, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/04/world/asia/04china.html
Construction schedule on Chinese third-generation nuclear plants races ahead of European models
Local experience and long working hours speed progress
Harold Thibault
Guardian Weekly, Tuesday 28 December 2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/dec/28/china-areva-taishan-nuclear-thibault
China: new tech eases uranium-supply worry
Jan. 4, 2011
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/china-new-tech-eases-uranium-supply-worry-2011-01-04
China hails nuclear tech breakthrough
Global Times
January 04 2011
http://www.globaltimes.cn/www/english/sci-edu/china/2011-01/608461.html
Nuclear fuel sources may last 3,000 years: officials
Global Times
January 04 2011
http://business.globaltimes.cn/industries/2011-01/608391.html
China claims new nuke technology
Beijing News.Net
Tuesday 4th January, 2011 (ANI)
http://www.beijingnews.net/story/727355/ht/China-claims-new-nuke-technology
WikiLeaks cables reveal fears over China's nuclear safety
Cables highlight US lobbying and say that cheap, out-of-date technology is 'vastly increasing' risk of nuclear accident
8/25/2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/aug/25/wikileaks-fears-china-nuclear-safety
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