By Xu Yuming
Vice Chairman, China Atomic Energy Authority

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am pleased to attend the ……. At the outset, I'd like to, on behalf of Mr. Zhang Huazhu, Chairman of China Atomic Energy Authority, extend congratulations on the convening of the seminar and express warm greetings to the participants at present.

Now, I'd like to avail myself of this opportunity to make a brief introduction on the nuclear power construction and safety in China.

1.The Status of Nuclear Power in China's Energy Development

China's rapidly growing economy is making increasing demand on energy and electricity. To achieve the long-term goal of economic development, China has to find a way to meet such demand. The per capita energy consumption is directly related to the people's life quality and represents the development level of a country. In 1996, China's overall energy consumption accounts only for 10.4% of the world's total, and the per capita energy consumption about half of the world's average. The development of energy and electricity is still far from meeting the demand of the national economic development in China.

The 1970s marked the beginning of China's nuclear power. The Qinshan NPP with a capacity of 300MW designed by China on its own was initiated in 1985 and was connected into the grid in December 1991. Its operation represents the beginning of nuclear power generation in China's mainland.

The construction of Daya Bay NPP, consisting of 2x900MW PWR with foreign investment and complete equipment introduced from abroad, was started in 1987. And the plant was put into operation in 1994.

Ever since going into commercial operation, Qinshan and Daya Bay NPPs have maintained fine performance records and made contribution in easing the shortage of electricity in the region.

What is of more significance to us is that we mastered expertise, accumulated experience and trained technicians during the construction and operation of the two NPPs, which laid a solid foundation for the follow-up nuclear power projects.

The Chinese government decided to construct 4 NPPs--Qinshan Phase II, Lingao of Guangdong, Qinshan Phase III and Lianyungang--of 8 units with a total installed capacity of 6600MW druing the Ninth Five-year Plan period(1996-2000). In 1998, the above-mentioned NPPs achieved their milestone goals respectively.

Qinshan Phase II consists of two 600MW PWR designed and constructed by China with certain equipment introduced from abroad. *The containment was domed on November 10, 1998. The progress of the key R&D items meets the requirement of the project, and it is expected to be connected to the grid in 2002.

Guangdong Lingao NPP consists of two 1000 MW PWR of French design. The nuclear island was installed in January 1999, ahead of the schedule. The construction will be completed in 2003.

Qinshan Phase III contains two 700MW HWR. The project is moving forward smoothly with close cooperation between the Chinese side and the Canadian side and is expected to start commercial operation in 2003.

Lianyungang NPP includes two VVER-1000 Advanced-91 type PWR designed by Russia with the mainstay equipment introduced from Russia and I&C system supplied by Siemens of Germany. The excavation started on last December 18. The first pouring of concrete is going to take place in October 1999 and unit No. 1 will be connected into grid for power generation in 2004.

2.China's Principals and Policies in Developing Nuclear Power

In light of China's current situation, the Chinese government decided that the electricity construction shall follow the basic principles of “optimizing the structure of thermal power, making great efforts in developing hydraulic power, properly developing nuclear power and developing new energy for power generation according to local conditions.” The Chinese government's fundamental policy for developing nuclear power are as follows:

Nuclear power shall be developed with centralized administration and unified planning and be in line with the energy and electricity development of the whole nation;

The coastal region in the southeast China which is short of expendable energy and well developed in economy shall be given priority in the consideration of the layout of nuclear power;

In the process of developing nuclear power, we shall make full use of our nuclear energy resource, the processing ability, the nuclear fuel fabrication capacity as well as the experience in designing, building and operating NPPs;

We shall achieve localization and standardization in the nuclear power industry to cut down the cost and shorten the construction cycle for the sustainable development of nuclear power;

Advanced and proven nuclear power technology is applied to achieve a gradual transition to advanced NPP of new generation;

We take PWR as the dominant reactor while do not repel other technology which is distinctively advanced in safety or economic results;

We follow the principle of "seeking international cooperation with China herself as the mainstay" and raise funds from various channels for developing nuclear power.

Experts has estimated that by the year 2010 and 2020, there would be a electricity shortage of 20000 MW and 50000MW respectively in China which should be supplemented by nuclear power or other new energy power. The recent development of nuclear power in China is faced with fierce challenges and its scale would not be as large as estimated before. However, nuclear power still has a great potential for development in the future for, as a supplement to the conventional electricity, nuclear power has distinctive advantage in relieving the earth from environmental and ecological issues.

3.Safety of China's Nuclear Power

China pays great attention to nuclear safety in developing nuclear power, and unswervingly adheres to the principle of "safety comes first". We have drawn up a complete set of nuclear safety regulations system and safety management system to review and supervise the safety of siting, designing, constructing and operating of the nuclear power plant. The staff safety and the public and environmental protection shall be always given priority.

According to China's Regulation of Nuclear Facility Safety Supervision, the owner is in charge of the safety of the NPP, and shall take every responsibility to the safety of the nuclear material, the staff, the public and the environment.

The administrative organization is responsible for managing the safety of the NPP, supervising its operation, drawing up the technological standard of nuclear safety and reviewing the NPP's emergency plan.

National Nuclear Safety Administration (NNSA) carries out unified supervision on the safety of the NPPs of the whole country and exercises supervision on nuclear safety independently. It is responsible for drawing up nuclear safety regulations, reviewing the safety performance of the NPPs and the owners' capability of protecting safety, and issuing or suspending the NPPs' safety licenses.

The NPP's safety is of considerable concern to the government and the public. Up till now, China's NPPs have maintained a good record in operation. As scaled by the nuclear event classification of the IAEA, no event of scale 2 or over scale 2 has occurred in Qinshan and Daya Bay NPPs, 17envets of scale 0 and 6events of scale 1 took place in Qinshan NPP; 29 events of scale 0 and 7events of scale 1 took place in unit 1 of Daya Bay NPP, and 31events of scale 0 and 8 events of scale 1 took place in unit 2.

During the process of nuclear power development, we also met certain difficulties and problems in nuclear safety which have been settled appropriately or under settlement. **

At the same time, we are also aware that the development of nuclear power in our country is still lagging behind compared with many other countries and our safety management is not on a high level. The nuclear power projects launched in the Ninth Five-year Plan period, in particular, have more types of reactors and more complicated conditions which adds to the difficulty of safety management. We shall never slacken the vigilance and try our best to implement the policy of "safety is more important than everything else".

Thank you!