Dounreay
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(Redirected from Dounreay Nuclear Power Development Establishment)
| Dounreay | |
|---|---|
 Dounreay in 2006 |
|
Location of Dounreay
|
|
| Country | Scotland |
| Coordinates | 58.57814°N 3.75233°WCoordinates: 58.57814°N 3.75233°W |
| Commission date | 1955 |
| Decommission date | 1994 |
| Operator(s) | United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority |
| Power station | |
| Primary fuel | Nuclear |
|
grid reference NC9811366859 |
|
Dounreay (Gaelic: Dùnrath) (Ordnance Survey grid reference NC982669) is on the north coast of Caithness, in the Highland area of Scotland. Dounreay was originally the site of a castle (now a ruin) and its name derives from the Gaelic for 'fort on a mound.'[1]
Since the 1950s it has been the site of several nuclear research
establishments, including a prototype fast breeder reactor and a test
for submarine reactors. Most of these facilities are now being
decommissioned.
Contents |
History
Upper Dounreay formed part of the battlefield of the Sandside Chase in 1437.
The site is used by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (Dounreay Nuclear Power Development Establishment) and the Ministry of Defence (Vulcan Naval Reactor Test Establishment), and the site is best known for its five nuclear reactors, three owned and operated by the UKAEA[2] and two by the Ministry of Defence.
The nuclear power establishment was built on the site of a World War II airfield, called HMS Tern (II). The airfield was transferred to the Admiralty by RAF Coastal Command in 1944, as a satellite of HMS Tern at Twatt in Orkney. It never saw any action during the war and was placed into care and maintenance in 1949.
Dounreay is near the A836 road, about 9 miles (14 km) west of the town of Thurso,
which grew rapidly when the research establishment was developed during
the mid 20th century. The establishment remained a major element in the
economy of Thurso and Caithness until 1994 when the government ordered
the reactors closed for good; a large population employed in the
clean-up of the site (which is scheduled to continue until at least
2025) remains.[2]
Toponymy
Robert Gordon's map of Caithness, 1642, uses Dounrae as the name of the castle.
William J. Watson's The Celtic Place-names of Scotland gives the origin as Dúnrath, and suggests that it may be a reference to a broch. This is the commonly accepted toponymy.
According to folk etymology the name Dounreay came about after a local with a strong accent tried to pronounce Down Reay to a map maker (Down Reay being down the road from the village of Reay, with the rural and part-time post office at the entrance to the reactor establishment having had the correct name, Down Reay, above its door).[citation needed]
Dounreay Nuclear Power Development Establishment
Dounreay Nuclear Power Development Establishment was established in 1955 primarily to pursue the UK Government policy of developing fast breeder reactor (FBR) technology.[2] The site was operated by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA).[2] Three nuclear reactors
were built there by the UKAEA, two of them FBRs plus a thermal research
reactor used to test materials for the programme, and also fabrication
and reprocessing facilities for the materials test rigs and for fuel for
the FBRs.
Dounreay was chosen as the reactor location for safety, in case of an explosion.[2]
The first reactor built was surrounded by a 139-foot steel sphere,
still a prominent feature of the landscape. The sphere was constructed
by the Motherwell Bridge Company.
DMTR
The first of the Dounreay reactors to achieve criticality was the Dounreay Materials Test Reactor (DMTR),
in May 1958. This reactor was used to test the performance of materials
under intense neutron irradiation, particularly those intended for fuel
cladding and other structural uses in a fast neutron reactor core. Test pieces were encased in uranium-bearing alloy to increase the already high neutron flux of the DIDO
class reactor, and then chemically stripped of this coating after
irradiation. DMTR shutdown in 1969, when materials testing work was
consolidated at Harwell Laboratory.
| 1 | Fissile Pu-239 core |
| 2 | Control rods |
| 3 | U-238 Breeder blanket |
| 4 | Primary NaK coolant loop |
| 5 | Secondary NaK coolant loop |
| 6 | Secondary NaK circulator |
| 7 | Secondary heat exchanger |
| 8 | Primary heat exchanger |
| 9 | Primary NaK circulator |
| 10 | Boronised graphite neutron shield |
| 11 | Radiation shield |
DFR
The second operational reactor (although the first to commence construction) was the Dounreay Fast Reactor (DFR), which achieved criticality on 14 November 1959, producing an electrical output of 14 MWe. This power was exported to the National Grid
from 14 October 1962 until the reactor was taken offline for
decommissioning in 1977. During its operational lifespan, DFR produced
over 600 million kWh of electricity.[3]
DFR and associated facilities cost £15m to build.[4] It was designed to generate 60MW thermal power and achieve a 2% fuel burn up.[5]
DFR was a loop-type FBR cooled by primary and secondary NaK circuits, with 24 primary coolant loops. The reactor core was initially fuelled with uranium metal fuel stabilized with molybdenum and clad in niobium.
The core was later used to test oxide fuels for PFR and provide
experimental space to support overseas fast reactor fuel and materials
development programmes.
PFR
The third and final UKAEA-operated reactor to be built on the Dounreay site was the Prototype Fast Reactor (PFR). PFR was a pool-type fast breeder reactor, cooled by liquid sodium and fueled with MOX.
It achieved criticality in 1974 and began supplying National Grid power
in January 1975. The output of PFR was 250 MWe. There were many delays
and reliability problems before reaching full power.[6]
The reactor was taken offline in 1994, marking the end of nuclear power generation at the site. A remotely operated robot dubbed 'The Reactorsaurus' will be sent in to remove waste and contaminated equipment from this reactor as it is too dangerous a task for a human.[7]
The reactor was taken offline in 1994, marking the end of nuclear power generation at the site. A remotely operated robot dubbed 'The Reactorsaurus' will be sent in to remove waste and contaminated equipment from this reactor as it is too dangerous a task for a human.[7]
Subsequent activity
Since the reactors have all been shut down,[2]
care and maintenance of old plant and decommissioning activities have
meant that Dounreay has still retained a large work-force. Commercial
reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel and waste was stopped by the UK
government in 1998 although some waste is still accepted from other
nuclear facilities in special circumstances.
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority ownership
On 1 April 2005 the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
(NDA) became the owner of the site, with the UKAEA remaining as
operator. Decommissioning of Dounreay is planned to bring the site to an
interim care and surveillance state by 2036, and as a brownfield site by 2336, at a total cost of £2.9 billion.[citation needed]
Apart from decommissioning the reactors, reprocessing plant, and
associated facilities, there are five main environmental issues to be
dealt with:
- A 65-metre deep shaft used for intermediate level nuclear waste disposal is contaminating some groundwater, and is threatened by coastal erosion in about 300 years time. The shaft was never designed as a waste depository, but was used as such on a very ad-hoc and poorly monitored basis, without reliable waste disposal records being kept. In origin it is a relic of a process by which a waste-discharge pipe was constructed. The pipe was designed to discharge waste into the sea. Historic use of the shaft as a waste depository has resulted in one hydrogen gas explosion[8] caused by sodium and potassium wastes reacting with water. At one time it was normal for workers to fire rifles into the shaft to sink polythene bags floating on water.[9]
- Irradiated nuclear fuel particles on the seabed near the plant,[2] estimated about several hundreds of thousands in number.[10] The beach has been closed since 1983 due to this danger,[2] caused by old fuel rod fragments being pumped into the sea.[2] In 2008, a clean-up project using Geiger counter-fitted robot submarines will search out and retrieve each particle individually, a process that will take years.[2] The particles still wash ashore, including as at 2009 -137 less radioactive particles on the publicly accessible but privately owned close-by Sandside Bay beach and one at a popular tourist beach at Dunnet.[11]
- 18,000 cubic metres of radiologically contaminated land, and 28,000 cubic metres of chemically contaminated land.
- 1,350 cubic metres of high and medium active liquors and 2,550 cubic metres of unconditioned intermediate level nuclear waste in store.
- 1,500 tonnes of sodium, 900 tonnes of this radioactively contaminated from the Prototype Fast Reactor.
Historically much of Dounreay's nuclear waste management was poor. On
18 September 2006, Norman Harrison, acting chief operating officer,
predicted that more problems will be encountered from old practices at
the site as the decommissioning effort continues. Some parts of the
plant are being entered for the first time in 50 years.[12]
In 2007 UKAEA pleaded guilty to four charges under the Radioactive Substances Act 1960
relating to activities between 1963 and 1984, one of disposing of
radioactive waste at a landfill site at the plant between 1963 and 1975,
and three of allowing nuclear fuel particles to be released into the
sea,[13][14] resulting in a fine of £140,000.[15]
Due to the uranium and plutonium held at the site, it is considered a security risk and there is a high police presence.[2] The fuel elements, known as "exotics", are to be removed to Sellafield for reprocessing, starting in 2014 or 2015.[16]
In 2013 the detail design of the major project to decommission the
intermediate level waste shaft was completed, and work should begin
later in the year. The work will include the recovery and packaging of
over 1,500 tonnes of radioactive waste.[17]
Vulcan NRTE
The Vulcan Naval Reactor Test Establishment (NRTE) (formerly HMS Vulcan) is a Ministry of Defence (MoD) establishment housing the prototype nuclear propulsion plants of the type operated by the Royal Navy in its submarine fleet. Originally it was known as the Admiralty Reactor Test Establishment (ARTE).
For over 40 years Vulcan has been the cornerstone of the Royal Navy's
nuclear propulsion programme, testing and proving the operation of four
generations of reactor core and currently testing its fifth. Its
reactors have significantly led the operational submarine plants in
terms of operation hours, proving systems, procedures and safety.
Rolls-Royce,
who design and procure all the reactor plants for the Royal Navy from
their Derby headquarters, operate Vulcan on the behalf of the MoD and
employ around 280 staff there, led by a small team of staff from the
Royal Navy. Reactors developed include the PWR1 and PWR2.
In 2011 the MoD stated that NRTE could be scaled down or closed after
2015 when the current series of tests ends. Computer modelling and
confidence in new reactor designs meant testing would no longer be
necessary.[18] The cost of decommissioning NRTE facilities when they become redundant, including nuclear waste disposal, was estimated at £2.1 billion in 2005.[19]
Dounreay Submarine Prototype 1 (DSMP1)
The first reactor, PWR1,
is known as Dounreay Submarine Prototype 1 (DSMP1). The reactor plant
was recognised by the Royal Navy as one of Her Majesty's Submarines
(HMS) and was commissioned as HMS Vulcan in 1963, though it did not go
critical until 1965. HMS Vulcan is a Rolls-Royce PWR 1 reactor plant and
tested Cores A, B and Z before being shut down in 1984. In 1987, the
plant was re-commissioned as LAIRD (Loss of Coolant Accident
Investigation Rig Dounreay) a non-nuclear test rig, the only one of its
kind in the world. LAIRD trials simulated loss of coolant accidents to
prove the effectiveness of systems designed to protect the reactor in
loss-of-coolant accidents.
Shore Test Facility (STF)
The second reactor, PWR2,
is housed in the Shore Test Facility (STF), was commissioned in 1987,
and went critical with Core G the same year. The plant was shut down in
1996, and work began to refit the plant with the current core, Core H,
in February 1997. This work was completed in 2000 and after two years of
safety justification the plant went critical in 2002 and is still
critical today. Vulcan Trials Operation and Maintenance (VTOM) (the
programme under which Core H is tested) is scheduled to be complete in
2014 and the reactor will be de-fuelled and examined. The site would
then be decommissioned along with facilities at neighbouring UKAEA
Dounreay.
Public trust crisis threatens China's nuclear power ambitions
HONG KONG |
(Reuters) - As China pushes an aggressive expansion of nuclear power it is running into a major stumbling block - a breakdown of trust, post-Fukushima, in official assurances of public safety.
A plan to build a $6 billion
uranium processing plant in the southern province of Guangdong was
canceled this week after about a thousand people took to the streets
demanding the project was scrapped over public health and environmental
fears.
Beijing plans to plough tens of billions of dollars into the construction of dozens of nuclear power projects across the country by 2020, as part of efforts to reduce its reliance on dirty coal-fired power and cut air pollution.
Industry insiders blamed the cancellation of the project on poor communication and a lack of public education. They say if things do not improve more protests could spring up elsewhere, threatening those plans to build new reactors.
Beijing plans to plough tens of billions of dollars into the construction of dozens of nuclear power projects across the country by 2020, as part of efforts to reduce its reliance on dirty coal-fired power and cut air pollution.
Industry insiders blamed the cancellation of the project on poor communication and a lack of public education. They say if things do not improve more protests could spring up elsewhere, threatening those plans to build new reactors.
"The public consultation
last only 10 days, which is way too short," said a top industry
executive with knowledge of the matter. "The materials it provided about
the project are also woefully inadequate." He declined to be identified
as he was not authorized to publicly comment on the project.
The outcry highlighted growing skepticism in China over official assurances about safety following a series of food and pollution scandals.
In the Internet age, in which the Chinese public is becoming increasingly vocal about their rights and mobilizing on social networks, popular protests like the demonstrations in the city of Jiangmen against the processing plant suggest a wider backlash against nuclear power.
The outcry highlighted growing skepticism in China over official assurances about safety following a series of food and pollution scandals.
In the Internet age, in which the Chinese public is becoming increasingly vocal about their rights and mobilizing on social networks, popular protests like the demonstrations in the city of Jiangmen against the processing plant suggest a wider backlash against nuclear power.
"If
public communication is not done properly, it would have a major
negative impact on China's future nuclear power development," said Lin
Boqiang, professor and director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University.
"Other people could learn from Jiangmen. The government should learn how to do effective communication with the public over major nuclear projects."
"Other people could learn from Jiangmen. The government should learn how to do effective communication with the public over major nuclear projects."
NUCLEAR POWER TARGET
China has 15 nuclear reactors currently in service.
In the aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan, Beijing cut its 2020 nuclear power capacity target to 58 gigawatt (GW) from 80-90 GW. But the new goal still represents a nearly four-fold increase from the current capacity and makes China the world's largest nuclear market.
In the aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan, Beijing cut its 2020 nuclear power capacity target to 58 gigawatt (GW) from 80-90 GW. But the new goal still represents a nearly four-fold increase from the current capacity and makes China the world's largest nuclear market.
Foreign nuclear
groups such as Toshiba Corp's Westinghouse and Areva have won
multi-billion dollar contracts to build nuclear power plants in the
world's second largest economy.
The
uranium processing project in Jiangmen, near Hong Kong, was supposed to
supply fuel to existing and future power plants in Guangdong, a major
Chinese industrial powerhouse and a center of nuclear energy expansion.
China
has been buying stakes in uranium mines in Asia and Africa, but without
the capacity to enrich and process the ore it will still be dependent
on foreign firms to turn it into useable fuel.
Already, anti-nuclear activists in Hong Kong, including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, have launched a petition this week to oppose further expansion of nuclear capacity in Guangdong, according to Frances Yeung, senior environmental affairs officer at Friends of the Earth's Hong Kong office.
Massive protests broke out in Hong Kong in the 1980s when China announced its plan to build the Daya Bay nuclear plant just across the border from the city, then under British rule. Fuelled by fears of nuclear accidents following the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, more than 1 million signatures were collected to register public objections to the construction.
The Chinese government eventually built the plant, but the French-designed project suffered delays.Already, anti-nuclear activists in Hong Kong, including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, have launched a petition this week to oppose further expansion of nuclear capacity in Guangdong, according to Frances Yeung, senior environmental affairs officer at Friends of the Earth's Hong Kong office.
Massive protests broke out in Hong Kong in the 1980s when China announced its plan to build the Daya Bay nuclear plant just across the border from the city, then under British rule. Fuelled by fears of nuclear accidents following the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, more than 1 million signatures were collected to register public objections to the construction.
POOR COMMUNICATIONS SKILLS
The
scrapped Jiangmen project was a joint venture between China National
Nuclear Corp (CNNC) and China General Nuclear Power Group (CGNPG). They
are now looking for alternative sites.
But power industry executives say that the Chinese state-run nuclear power companies and local governments lack the communication skills to reassure the public at a time of heightened fears about safety.
Public safety concerns have forced China to cancel plans to build several major chemical projects in coastal areas in recent years. Critics say unsupervised local governments have been pushing for economic growth at the expense of the environment and public health.
Nuclear
fuel processing, the work that would have been done at the proposed
Jiangmen project, poses little risk to public health, according to
industry experts and the industry lobby group, the World Nuclear
Association.But power industry executives say that the Chinese state-run nuclear power companies and local governments lack the communication skills to reassure the public at a time of heightened fears about safety.
Public safety concerns have forced China to cancel plans to build several major chemical projects in coastal areas in recent years. Critics say unsupervised local governments have been pushing for economic growth at the expense of the environment and public health.
They say enriching
uranium at a processing plant poses less risk than handling spent
nuclear fuel, which is highly radioactive, at a reactor. But, the public
in Jiangmen were not convinced.
"Great, long live Jiangmen leaders. Germany has also decided to give up nuclear power," a Jiangmen resident said in a post on the Jiangmen government's page on the popular social networking site Weibo, under registered name of ‘YOoUuNnGg', in reaction to its decision to scrap the uranium processing project.
The Global Times, a strident tabloid owned by the top state-run paper the People's Daily, attributed the scrapping of the project to an "opaque and unreasonable" decision-making process and called on local governments to "establish a system that fosters consultations between officials and the public".
"Great, long live Jiangmen leaders. Germany has also decided to give up nuclear power," a Jiangmen resident said in a post on the Jiangmen government's page on the popular social networking site Weibo, under registered name of ‘YOoUuNnGg', in reaction to its decision to scrap the uranium processing project.
The Global Times, a strident tabloid owned by the top state-run paper the People's Daily, attributed the scrapping of the project to an "opaque and unreasonable" decision-making process and called on local governments to "establish a system that fosters consultations between officials and the public".
Chinese
state-owned enterprises like CNNC and CGN have been increasingly aware
of their public image and seeking to improve transparency, but critics
say they are still largely functioning as government bureaucracies
rather than commercial enterprises.
When reached by Reuters, an official at CNNC's propaganda department in Beijing said she could not immediately comment on the report and asked for emailed questions regarding the Jiangmen project. CGN could not be reached for comments.
"I suspect that the Chinese have got a long way to go in developing public consultation before they site new facilities - and not just in nuclear," said Steve Kidd, former head of World Nuclear Association, now an industry consultant.
When reached by Reuters, an official at CNNC's propaganda department in Beijing said she could not immediately comment on the report and asked for emailed questions regarding the Jiangmen project. CGN could not be reached for comments.
"I suspect that the Chinese have got a long way to go in developing public consultation before they site new facilities - and not just in nuclear," said Steve Kidd, former head of World Nuclear Association, now an industry consultant.
(Additional reporting by David Stanway in BEIJING and Grace Li and Lavinia Mo in HONG KONG; Editing by David Lague and Alex Richardson)
Can Nuclear Reactors Be Cheap?
Around the world, nuclear power plants are aging
and will have to be replaced with new facilities capable of providing
steady, reliable baseload power. With natural gas prices currently at
rock bottom, many experts are betting on gas-fired plants to power the
21st century. But a new report
from The Breakthrough Institute argues that nuclear can compete
economically with fossil fuels—if utilities move away from today's
expensive and hulking light water reactors and embrace innovative
reactor designs.
The Breakthrough Institute is a California think tank dedicated to
"modernizing environmentalism," and its founders have previously argued
that nuclear power is the answer to the "planetary emergency" of climate
change. (Full disclosure: I've moderated a couple of panels at
Breakthrough events.) So in this report, the authors set out to
illuminate a viable path to a nuclear-powered civilization.
The report says the price of building nuclear reactors can be brought
down dramatically if those reactor designs focus on four factors:
First, designs must incorporate inherent safety characteristics that obviate the need for expensive and redundant engineered safety systems. Second, designs must in whole or in part be built modularly so that components of plants can be mass-produced and assembled, rather than fabricated, at the construction site. Third, designs will need to be more efficient thermally such that they are able to generate more electricity from a smaller physical plant. Fourth, designs must have a high degree of readiness in utilizing existing nuclear or industrial supply chains that do not require development or commercialization of new or unproven materials and fuels.
The safety and modularity arguments are particularly important. The
light water reactors that are currently the industry standard require
extravagant safety systems to keep the reactor vessel pressurized and
filled with water. The fuel in such reactors can melt down if power is
lost and operators can't control the pressure and water level—as the
world learned during the Fukushima catastrophe.
If we want to learn from our mistakes, the Breakthrough authors
suggest, we should focus on new reactor designs that can operate at
ambient pressure, and can cool themselves in the event of a power
outage.
Modularity is also a hot topic in the nuclear world these days, since
the up-front costs of building a light water reactor are prohibitive.
With smaller off-the-shelf reactor designs, units can be added one by
one to the grid—and paid for one by one. The Breakthrough authors aren't
the only experts looking at assembly-line reactors. Carnegie Mellon
researchers recently published a paper arguing that small nuclear reactors can play an important role in the energy mix.
The Breakthrough report uses its four factors to evaluate several
advanced nuclear reactor designs, including Generation III+ designs
(essentially souped up versions of today's light water reactors) and
Generation IV designs like gas- and salt-cooled thermal reactors and
fast reactors. While they don't claim to pick winners, one design does
stand out from the crowd: the salt-cooled thermal reactor, which uses
molten salt as a coolant. The report notes that this design alone meets
all of the criteria for significant cost reductions. If you're a nuclear
reactor geek like me, check out the report for all the details. (And
check out also this IEEE Spectrum feature on seven advanced reactor designs.)
But the report doesn't argue for putting all our eggs in a basket
filled with molten salt; rather it advocates investment in a variety of
viable new designs.
If there is one lesson from the 60-year history of nuclear energy development and commercialization, it is that locking in to a single technological path too early can have significant long-term consequences. Light-water reactors represented the path of least resistance in the 1950s and once that path was taken, the obstacles to diverging from it have proven formidable.
Image: iStockphoto
Trust crisis threatens China nuclear power
2013-07-19 12:15http://www.news24.com/Green/News/Trust-crisis-threatens-China-nuclear-power-20130718
Hong Kong - As China pushes an aggressive expansion
of nuclear power it is running into a major stumbling block - a
breakdown of trust, post-Fukushima, in official assurances of public
safety.
A plan to build a $6bn uranium processing plant in the southern province of Guangdong was cancelled this week after about a thousand people took to the streets demanding the project was scrapped over public health and environmental fears.
Beijing plans to plough tens of billions of dollars into the construction of dozens of nuclear power projects across the country by 2020, as part of efforts to reduce its reliance on dirty coal-fired power and cut air pollution.
Industry insiders blamed the cancellation of the project on poor communication and a lack of public education. They say if things do not improve more protests could spring up elsewhere, threatening those plans to build new reactors.
"The public consultation last only 10 days, which is way too short," said a top industry executive with knowledge of the matter. "The materials it provided about the project are also woefully inadequate." He declined to be identified as he was not authorised to publicly comment on the project.
Communication
The outcry highlighted growing scepticism in China over official assurances about safety following a series of food and pollution scandals.
In the internet age, in which the Chinese public is becoming increasingly vocal about their rights and mobilising on social networks, popular protests like the demonstrations in the city of Jiangmen against the processing plant suggest a wider backlash against nuclear power.
"If public communication is not done properly, it would have a major negative impact on China's future nuclear power development," said Lin Boqiang, professor and director of the China Centre for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University.
"Other people could learn from Jiangmen. The government should learn how to do effective communication with the public over major nuclear projects."
China has 15 nuclear reactors currently in service.
In the aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan, Beijing cut its 2020 nuclear power capacity target to 58 gigawatts (GW) from 80GW - 90GW. But the new goal still represents a nearly four-fold increase from the current capacity and makes China the world's largest nuclear market.
Foreign nuclear groups such as Toshiba Corp's Westinghouse and Areva have won multi-billion dollar contracts to build nuclear power plants in the world's second largest economy.
The uranium processing project in Jiangmen, near Hong Kong, was supposed to supply fuel to existing and future power plants in Guangdong, a major Chinese industrial powerhouse and a centre of nuclear energy expansion.
Protests
China has been buying stakes in uranium mines in Asia and Africa, but without the capacity to enrich and process the ore it will still be dependent on foreign firms to turn it into useable fuel.
Already, anti-nuclear activists in Hong Kong, including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, have launched a petition this week to oppose further expansion of nuclear capacity in Guangdong, according to Frances Yeung, senior environmental affairs officer at Friends of the Earth's Hong Kong office.
Massive protests broke out in Hong Kong in the 1980s when China announced its plan to build the Daya Bay nuclear plant just across the border from the city, then under British rule. Fuelled by fears of nuclear accidents following the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, more than one million signatures were collected to register public objections to the construction.
The Chinese government eventually built the plant, but the French-designed project suffered delays.
Power industry executives say that the Chinese state-run nuclear power companies and local governments lack the communication skills to reassure the public at a time of heightened fears about safety.
"I suspect that the Chinese have got a long way to go in developing public consultation before they site new facilities - and not just in nuclear," said Steve Kidd, former head of World Nuclear Association, now an industry consultant.
A plan to build a $6bn uranium processing plant in the southern province of Guangdong was cancelled this week after about a thousand people took to the streets demanding the project was scrapped over public health and environmental fears.
Beijing plans to plough tens of billions of dollars into the construction of dozens of nuclear power projects across the country by 2020, as part of efforts to reduce its reliance on dirty coal-fired power and cut air pollution.
Industry insiders blamed the cancellation of the project on poor communication and a lack of public education. They say if things do not improve more protests could spring up elsewhere, threatening those plans to build new reactors.
"The public consultation last only 10 days, which is way too short," said a top industry executive with knowledge of the matter. "The materials it provided about the project are also woefully inadequate." He declined to be identified as he was not authorised to publicly comment on the project.
Communication
The outcry highlighted growing scepticism in China over official assurances about safety following a series of food and pollution scandals.
In the internet age, in which the Chinese public is becoming increasingly vocal about their rights and mobilising on social networks, popular protests like the demonstrations in the city of Jiangmen against the processing plant suggest a wider backlash against nuclear power.
"If public communication is not done properly, it would have a major negative impact on China's future nuclear power development," said Lin Boqiang, professor and director of the China Centre for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University.
"Other people could learn from Jiangmen. The government should learn how to do effective communication with the public over major nuclear projects."
China has 15 nuclear reactors currently in service.
In the aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan, Beijing cut its 2020 nuclear power capacity target to 58 gigawatts (GW) from 80GW - 90GW. But the new goal still represents a nearly four-fold increase from the current capacity and makes China the world's largest nuclear market.
Foreign nuclear groups such as Toshiba Corp's Westinghouse and Areva have won multi-billion dollar contracts to build nuclear power plants in the world's second largest economy.
The uranium processing project in Jiangmen, near Hong Kong, was supposed to supply fuel to existing and future power plants in Guangdong, a major Chinese industrial powerhouse and a centre of nuclear energy expansion.
Protests
China has been buying stakes in uranium mines in Asia and Africa, but without the capacity to enrich and process the ore it will still be dependent on foreign firms to turn it into useable fuel.
Already, anti-nuclear activists in Hong Kong, including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, have launched a petition this week to oppose further expansion of nuclear capacity in Guangdong, according to Frances Yeung, senior environmental affairs officer at Friends of the Earth's Hong Kong office.
Massive protests broke out in Hong Kong in the 1980s when China announced its plan to build the Daya Bay nuclear plant just across the border from the city, then under British rule. Fuelled by fears of nuclear accidents following the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, more than one million signatures were collected to register public objections to the construction.
The Chinese government eventually built the plant, but the French-designed project suffered delays.
Power industry executives say that the Chinese state-run nuclear power companies and local governments lack the communication skills to reassure the public at a time of heightened fears about safety.
"I suspect that the Chinese have got a long way to go in developing public consultation before they site new facilities - and not just in nuclear," said Steve Kidd, former head of World Nuclear Association, now an industry consultant.
Macroeconomics | By Yin Guang
http://www.thechinaperspective.com/articles/china-economic-watch-nuclear-power-development-may-be-too-fast-market-for-children-products-booms-10272/
China Economic Watch: Nuclear Power Development May Be Too Fast; Market for Children Products Booms
Nuclear
power development in China is likely to exceed the planned capacity if
the current growth pace continues, according to Xu Yuming, deputy
director of China Nuclear Industry Association. China's commissioned
nuclear power is set at 58 gigawatts and 30 gigawatts under construction
by 2020, according to a nuclear power development plan published in
October 2012. Experts said this 88-gigawatt capacity is a 300 billion
yuan market for domestic nuclear power equipment manufacturers in the
next 10 years.
China Pushes EU for Solar Deals
China is pushing
hard for limited restrictions on its solar panel exports to the EU,
complicating talks aimed at avoiding hefty tariffs on Chinese firms,
Reuters reported, citing a document from the European Commission. The
document said that China hopes that in all solar agreements to expire by
the end of 2014 wafers should be excluded from tariffs and that any cap
on Chinese exports should be removed. The document described the
requests as "difficult to implement". Negotiations are under way to find
a solution.
Market for Children Products Booms
Revenue from
children's wear is expected to grow 25-30% annually in China between
2012 and 2015 as the nation's population of those aged under 14 nears
300 million, according to a report released by the National Bureau of
Statistics. The Chinese market of baby clothing and daily necessities
will be worth 228 billion yuan in 2015, according to US consultancy
Frost & Sullivan.
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