China's inland nuclear plants plan attracts controversy
- By Zhang Lulu
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E-mail China.org.cn, May 20, 2015
Two Chinese scholars were reportedly heckled by staff from Westinghouse Electric Company, a U.S.-based company offering nuclear products, stoking the controversy surrounding nuclear power plants in China.
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During a lecture held in a key Chinese university in April, Wang Yinan and He Zuoxiu, two of the most vocal opponents of inland nuclear plants in China, were heckled by staff from Westinghouse Co., which signed a contract with China in 2006 to introduce its new AP1000 reactor and related technology to the country.
The technology will be used in three inland nuclear power plants in China, namely the Daban project in Hubei Province, Taohuajiang plant in Hunan Province, and the Pengze project in Jiangxi Province.
In an online article detailing the heckling that day, Wang said a Ms. Yin Shan, vice manager of the Westinghouse Beijing office, raised a number of questions and made statements in defense of the company during the Q&A session reserved for university students.
Yin said that the three inland provinces adopted CAP1000 instead of AP1000 technology, while Wang argued that the CAP1000 was unheard of before and had not been approved by China. The bicker provoked further debates in the nuclear power industry.
Why is the inland nuclear plant problematic?
China currently has 23 reactors in operation and another 26 under construction, according to a report published by the China Nuclear Energy Society in February. The country is looking to more than double its nuclear energy capacity to 58 gigawatts by 2020, and more than 30 gigawatts will be under construction by then, in an attempt to ensure energy security and meet environmental demand.
China's efforts to develop nuclear power were suspended following the devastating Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011. But as the State Council, China's cabinet, published an energy development action plan in late 2014, pledging that the country will "study the construction of nuclear energy plants in inland areas," the development of such plants has come into the spotlight again.
Wang Yinan, a researcher with the Development Research Center of the State Council, and He Zuoxiu, an academician from the top-notch Chinese Academy of Sciences, are staunch opponents of inland nuclear plants in China, citing safety concerns among others.
The two scholars published an article in a state-run magazine China Economic Weekly in March, citing various reasons why the three provinces are not as well-positioned as their Western counterparts, such as cities in France and the United States, to build inland plants. The reasons included the denser population, poor air dispersion conditions, potential droughts and others.
The two also raised doubt about the AP1000 reactors. Though the technology is used in the above-mentioned three Chinese provinces as well as four new plants in the United States, different design certification rules are adopted in the two countries. While China uses the DCD15 version of the technology which the two claimed to be "only used in China", American plants use the DCD19 which have been updated several times.
Even the more advanced DCD19 is not impeccable, the pair warned in the same article, citing its failed entry into Britain in 2011 and its delayed use in both China and the United States caused by component research.
Wang Yinan further explained why more research needs to be done before building inland nuclear power plants.
"There is no intrinsic technological difference between inland and coastal nuclear plants, but the location of the plants, disaster-related pollution control and the emergency response differ drastically," Wang said in an interview with China Economic Weekly.
"If a nuclear leakage occurs in a coastal plant, the polluted water can be at worst discharged into the sea. But if there is a leakage in an inland area, the water can only be directed into rivers and lakes," she added.
"Nuclear energy is not always clean energy. It is only clean when no radiation occurs. If an accident happens, it is the most difficult pollution to deal with… it would take tens of thousands of years. It is irreversible for mankind," Wang warned.
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