China says won’t approve new nuclear projects until safety plan in place

China will suspend approvals for new nuclear power plant proposals until a new nuclear safety plan — that is being drafted — is put in place, said Li Ganjie, deputy minister of the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

Li said this during a meeting with Peter Lyons, the US assistant energy secretary for nuclear power, last Friday in Beijing, according to a report by the ministry on Tuesday.

In March, less than a week after the earthquake and tsunami knocked out the cooling systems at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima-1 plant, China ordered safety inspections at all its nuclear power facilities and suspended the approval of new projects.

The Chinese government conducted safety inspection on all nuclear facilities in operation and the plants have all passed the checks. A separate review of the nuclear power plants under construction is underway and should be completed by October, Li said.

Li told the US official that China is drafting a nuclear safety plan and all new nuclear projects will not be approved until the plan has been reviewed and adopted by the government.

China has 13 nuclear plants that are in commercial operation and 28 are under construction — estimated at 40% of all plants being built worldwide.

Many more are on the drawing board and it is expected that by 2020 there will be more than 100 nuclear power plants in China, Li said.

In May, the ministry said that it would spend Yuan 150 million ($23 million) this year on nuclear and radiation supervision and control, and in providing technical support to ensure nuclear safety.

This is the first time that the ministry has set aside funds for nuclear safety supervision and control.

Platts