China builds capability to handle nuke emergencies

Beijing, Apr 7 (ANI): China has planned to update the country's nuclear emergency plan and built its capability to handle nuclear emergencies, according to a report.

A two-day meeting of the national nuclear emergency coordination committee that started on Friday in Beijing discussed the revision of China's nuclear emergency plan, as well as the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) for nuclear emergencies.

Wang Yiren, deputy head of the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense said that the committee would expand to involve more government departments and provinces.

He also said that efforts will also be made to draft more laws governing nuclear emergencies, build capability to handle a nuclear accident, and carry out more nuclear emergency drills, The China Daily reports.

The meeting came after Chinese President Hu Jintao told the 2012 Seoul Nuclear Security Summit that nuclear security and energy could work in tandem by using a 'scientific and sensible' approach.

"As China prefers nuclear energy to meet its surging demand as the economy undergoes rapid expansion, efforts should be made to 'face up to associated risks and make sure that nuclear energy is safer and more reliable'," Jintao had said.

According to the National Energy Administration, China has 15 nuclear reactors in operation, mostly in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces.

At present 26 more nuclear reactors are under construction, and by 2015, China will have 41 nuclear reactors. (ANI)