CHINESE PLANTS:THE CHINESE government is suspending approvals for dozens of new nuclear power plants to allow for stringent safety checks as it tries to calm citizens' nerves over the possibility of a nuclear crisis akin to that in Japan.
China’s love affair with nuclear power, which the rapidly developing country sees as a way of both cutting dependence on dirty coal and making cheap energy available, has been badly hit by Japan’s nuclear crisis.
China’s cabinet said after a meeting chaired by premier Wen Jiabao it has ordered the relevant departments to conduct safety checks at existing plants and at those under construction.
“We will temporarily suspend approval of nuclear power projects, including those in the preliminary stages of development,” ran a statement on the government website. “Any hazards must be thoroughly dealt with, and those that do not conform to safety standards must immediately cease construction,” it said.
China’s nuclear expansion programme is by far the biggest in the world and the decision to stall, if not stop, rampant growth in this sector marks a major rethink on the safety of nuclear power.
China has more than 13 nuclear reactors and is building approximately another 28, which equates to roughly 40 per cent of the world’s total currently under construction. The goal, ultimately, is to have 100 nuclear power plants.
The government has fast-tracked approvals as it tries to provide a 10-fold increase in atomic capacity by 2020. It has latched on to nuclear power as a way of curbing carbon emissions, but public support has dropped markedly since the Japanese crisis.