| MEP Vice Minister Li Ganjie Met with Assistant Secretary of US Department of Energy |
MEP Vice Minister Li Ganjie met with a visiting US delegation headed by Dr. Peter B. Lyons, Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy of US Department of Energy in Beijing on June 10. The two sides exchanged their views on topics such as the impacts of Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan and enhancement of Sino-US cooperation on nuclear safety.
Vice Minister Li Ganjie first expressed warm welcome to the delegation headed by Dr. Peter B. Lyons. He said, although Fukushima nuclear accident is still in the handling stage and relevant information is under investigation, in general, the consequence of this accident is very serious with a big lesson.
Vice Minister Li said, after the occurrence of Fukushima nuclear accident, the Chinese Government attached great importance to it with quick and effective response. We start doing the following two activities: 1) Large scale inspection on safety of nuclear power facilities. This work started in April and will be finished within 6 months. Among them, inspection on safety of all nuclear facilities under operation will be conducted in the first stage. In the second stage, we will carry out comprehensive review of the safety of all nuclear power plants under construction. At present, the work of the first stage has been finished with the safety check pace similar to that of EU and the United States. 2) Development of China National Plan for Nuclear Safety as soon as possible. The Chinese Government will suspend the review and approval of all new nuclear power plant projects before the approval of this Plan.
Vice Minister Li gave a brief introduction of development of nuclear power and current status of nuclear safety supervision in China. He said, up to know, there are 13 nuclear power generating units in commercial service in China and another 28 generating units are under construction. It is expected that there will be over 100 by 2020. China has established relatively complete supervision and management system on nuclear safety, including government supervision departments, local nuclear safety supervision centers and relevant technical supporting units. Regarding the progress of AP1000 project in China, he said that the construction of No.1 nuclear power generating unit in Sanmen of Zhejiang Province and No.1 nuclear power generating unit in Haiyang of Shandong Province is very smooth.
Li Ganjie said, Ministry of Environmental Protection (National Nuclear Safety Administration) and US Department of Energy have made remarkable achievements in cooperation on radioactive sources since 2009. He hoped that the two sides should strengthen personnel and technical exchanges, in particular further deepen our cooperation in such areas as basic technological research and development of nuclear safety and treatment & disposal of radioactive waste.
Dr. Peter B. Lyons, Assistant Secretary of US Department of Energy appreciated the judgment and quick response of the Chinese Government soon after the Fukushima nuclear accident. He said, the US side believes that the lessons of this accident remind relevant countries of the following two issues: 1) reliability and completeness of instrument and control equipment in nuclear power plants; 2) intensify protection on emergency response facilities in nuclear power plants. He agreed with the suggestion of Vice Minister Li about strengthening cooperation in the two fields and hoped to strengthen contact and deepen cooperation.
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