China improves emergency plan for nuclear accidents

BEIJING - The State Council, China's cabinet, recently approved the release of a revised version of the national nuclear emergency plan.

Drawing on the global response to nuclear accidents, including Japan's Fukushima disaster in 2011, the plan specifies how national and provincial authorities and power stations should respond in the event of a nuclear accident.

The plan, amended from its 2005 version, requires relevant parties to disclose information in a timely manner to guide public response, according to the National Nuclear Emergency Response Office.

The risk of a severe nuclear accident, though extremely low, should not be ruled out, and China must spare no efforts in improving nuclear emergency management, said Pan Ziqiang, director of the Science and Technology Committee at the China National Nuclear Corporation.

China has lifted a ban on approvals of new nuclear power stations, which was imposed in 2012, following Japan's 2011 Fukushima disaster. China now requires that new stations be built according to the world's highest safety standards.

China currently has 17 nuclear power reactors in operation, with a combined generating capacity of 14.76 million kilowatts, and another 28 nuclear plants are currently being built.