China restarts progress on its nuclear energy program

Post-Fukushima safety checks are done, but the size of the new build will be smaller

After five months China has mostly completed the safety inspections of its 11 GWe of nuclear energy plants. Work will resume on on the start of construction of new nuclear power stations. China temporarily suspended its nuclear new build on March 16, 2011.

In May 2011 the Chinese Environmental Ministry announced a series of supplemental measures to improve safety at the nation's nuclear power plants. In August an IAEA team completed a review of China's nuclear regulatory program with a series of recommendations to beef up its capabilities.

It’s not clear that work ever stopped on construction of reactor projects that had already broken ground. That includes four reactors being built by Westinghouse and two being built by Areva.

No operating reactors were reported to be closed by the inspections. The government did not released the results of the safety inspections. The report said that the safety checks would continue through October 2011.

"The consequence of (the Japanese) incident is very serious and the lesson is very profound," Vice Minister Li Ganjie said in state-media report posted on the environmental protection ministry's website.

Scope of China’s safety reviews

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. “

(Complete Summary of Ganjie’s remarks in English) Note that there haven't been any English language references to the 'China National Plan for Nuclear Safety' since this June statement.

Li has called for a major overhaul of China's nuclear oversight in the wake of Japan's disaster. However, regulatory developments are not seen as impeding China’s drive to build up its commercial nuclear fleet.

U.S. Energy official meets with Li

Li's remarks came in a meeting June 15 in Beijing with the U.S. Energy Department Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Pete Lyons. The two discussed the Japanese disaster and called for closer cooperation on nuclear safety.

According to the China Daily, Lyons complimented the Chinese government on its immediate reaction and judgment shown after the crisis outbreak.

He also raised two issues regarding nuclear safety: one is the reliability and completeness of the instrumentation and control equipments; the other is the protection of emergency facilities in nuclear plants. Lyons is a former NRC Commission and has previously traveled to China to share expertise on nuclear safety.

In August 2011 China fired up the Ling Ao II nuclear power plant for revenue service which is a CPR-1000, the focus of safety concerns in the West. The reactor went critical in February and was connect to the grid in May 2011. These actions are a clear signal China is not slowing down development of its nuclear fleet.

New build scaled back

However, the government said it would scale back the size of its new build. Last year China announced it would build the equivalent of 80 1,000 MW nuclear power plants. Now China’s National Energy Administration is saying it will complete an additional 30 GW of plants by 2015, and an additional 28 reactors in the next decade, for a total new build of about 60 GW.

Ling Ao II RPV – Photo: World Nuclear News

Last December this blog wrote that it was unlikely that China would be able to complete construction of 80 GW of new reactor generating capacity in ten years.

The mandarins in Beijing will discover they're outrunning their ability to build out their plans for 80 GWe of new reactors in ten years. There are limits to how much concrete, steel, and nuclear engineering talent can be put into play in that short a period of time. They might build 25 GWE in ten years.

Improvements need in manufacturing quality and safety

The head of the National Energy Administration, Zhang Guobao, who is stepping down, said Aug 30 the restart of work on new projects, in addition to those where construction is already underway, needs to be supported by improvements in manufacturing quality of components, safety regulation, as well as increasing overall output.

While these developments were taking place, newspapers in the U.K. published formerly classified diplomatic cables released by a Swedish political group that revealed U.S. analysts are worried about the safety of China’s new reactors. The cables revealed concerns about the weakness of an independent regulatory safety program. Also, the cables stressed that China’s “second generation” plants might have problems due to aging equipment.

Another problem with safety is having enough trained nuclear engineers to run a credible program. The cables quote a former Westinghouse executive named Gavin Liu who is cited in them sometime in 2010 as saying “a bottleneck” exists in getting enough trained people to build the new reactors and regulate them in terms of safety.

Liu left Westinghouse in early 2011 to take a senior position with ABB in China. He is an expert on China’s nuclear technology with a Bachelor of Science in Thermal Engineering from Tsinghua University in 1991 and a Master’s degree in Economics from Peking University in 1998.

The cables reportedly compared the speed of construction, and lack of strong safety regulation for nuclear power, to the situation with China’s high speed railways. Last July a crash killed dozens of people. The cause of the accident is being blamed on China having put construction and start-up as priorities ahead of safety in operation.

Fast reactor news

China has hooked up a fast reactor to the grid supplying electricity from one for commercial use for the first time in that country. The China National Nuclear Corporation plant is generating 20 MW and has a capacity of 65 MW. It was built with help from a consortium of Russian state-owned companies.

Bloomberg wire service reported July 21 that the success with the prototype will pave the way for larger commercial units.

Work is also proceeding to build two BN-800 sodium-cooled fast reactors based on a Russian design. The China Nuclear Energy Industrial Corp. is working with Atomstroyexport to build the plants.

Media reports indicate a coastal site will be selected for the reactors. Groundbreaking is expected in 2013 or 2014.

According to World Nuclear News, the coastal city of Haiyan, on the Yangtze Delta, has been selected to house the 'Nuclear City'. It is some 118 kilometers (70 miles) southwest of Shanghai and close to the cities of Hangzhou, Suzhou and Ningbo. WNN noted it also lies midway along China’s coast, where several nuclear power plants have been constructed or are planned.

Prior coverage on this blog

• July 25, 2010 – China’s big bet on fast reactors
• October 1, 2009 – China plans commercial fast reactors

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68th Carnival of Nuclear Energy Blogs

The 68th Carnival of Nuclear Energy Blogs is online now at Deregulate the Atom

This post is the collective voice of the best pro-nuclear blogs in North America. If you want to hear the voice of the nuclear renaissance, the Carnival of Nuclear Energy Blogs is where to find it.

Past editions have been hosted at ANS Nuclear Cafe, Yes Vermont Yankee, NuclearGreen, Idaho Samizdat, Atomic Power Review, and CoolHandNuke, as well as several other popular nuclear energy blogs.

If you have a pro-nuclear energy blog, and would like to host an edition of the carnival, please contact Brian Wang at Next Big Future to get on the rotation.

This is a great collaborative effort that deserves your support. Please post a Tweet, a Facebook entry, or a link on your Web site or blog to support the carnival.

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Catching up on the news

After a one-two punch of an earthquake and a hurricane, some news almost slipped away

China Completes Post-Fukushima Safety Tests

11 Aug (NucNet): China has completed safety inspections of its nuclear power plants,  raising the possibility that work could resume on an ambitious reactor building program that was suspended in the wake of the March 2011 accident at Fukushima-Daiichi in Japan.

According to a notice published on the website of the China Nuclear Energy Association (CNEA) today, safety inspectors completed a tour of the country's existing reactors and nuclear construction sites on 5 August 2011.

Ling Ao Unit 2 RPV, Photo: World Nuclear News

The CNEA said inspections had been carried out by a team of 50 experts and in line with International Atomic Energy Agency safety standards.

Particular attention had been paid to “serious accident prevention and mitigation” including the possibility of flooding and seismic activity.

China suspended all new reactor approvals and ordered a halt to the construction of nuclear facilities on 16 March 2011, five days after the Fukushima-Daiichi accident.

China has 14 nuclear units in commercial operation and 27 under construction.

On 7 August 2011, the second unit at phase two of the Lingao nuclear power plant in southern China began commercial operation.

The Lingao site is about one kilometre northeast of the Guangdong nuclear site, also known as Daya Bay, with which it shares a number of facilities.

China Guangdong Nuclear Power Company said the total combined gross capacity of the two plants is now 6,108 MW (5,764 MW net), jointly making Lingao-Guangdong the largest nuclear plant site in China.

Saskatchewan And Hitachi In Research Agreements For Small Reactor Technologies

26 Aug (NucNet): Canada’s Saskatchewan province has signed two nuclear research and development agreements with Hitachi-GE, GEH and Hitachi to include work on the design and feasibility of small reactor technologies.

Some 10 million Canadian dollars of funding (about 10 million US dollars; 7 million euro) for two memoranda of understanding (MOUs) relating to the project were announced yesterday by Saskatchewan innovation minister Rob Norris, Hiroto Uozumi, president of Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy Ltd., and Taiji Yoshida, general manger of Hitachi Ltd.

The MOUs will facilitate and support research collaborations in nuclear medicine, materials science, nuclear safety and small reactor design.

Mr Norris said the move followed an announcement earlier this year of a new research Center for nuclear medicine and materials science at the University of Saskatchewan. “Today, I'm pleased to announce a new partnership with Hitachi Ltd., Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy Ltd. (Hitachi-GE), GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas LLC (GEH), and Global Nuclear Fuel - Americas LLC (GNF-A), to further establish Saskatchewan as a leader in nuclear science and medicine.”

Nuclear safety will be another major research priority as Hitachi and Innovation Saskatchewan, a special operating agency of the province, consider research proposals pursuant to the MOUs. Mr Norris said another area of interest to Saskatchewan, Hitachi-GE, GEH and GNF-A is research into the reclamation of unused uranium fuel rods.

Under the MOUs, Innovation Saskatchewan will also work with Hitachi-GE, GEH and GNF-A on research into the design and feasibility of small reactor technologies although Mr Norris said any decision on whether to pursue nuclear power in Saskatchewan was “still many years away”.

Nuclear Energy Will Be ‘Locomotive’ To Drive India’s Development, Says PM

22 Aug (NucNet): India’s prime minister has said nuclear energy will be a "major locomotive" in driving the country’s development.

Manmohan Singh said yesterday he remained convinced that nuclear would play an "important role in our quest for a clean and environmentally friendly energy mix".

Speaking at the country’s Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics in Kolkata, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary, Mr Singh added: "We are in the process of expanding our civil nuclear energy program. Even as we do so, we have to ensure that the use of nuclear energy in India meets the highest safety standards. This is a matter on which there can be no compromise."

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, India has 20 nuclear power plant units in commercial operation and five units under construction.

Earlier this year, India’s government said it planned to create an "independent and autonomous" body, to be known as the Nuclear Regulatory Authority of India, to subsume the country’s existing regulator, the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board.

‘Megatons To Megawatts’ Program Nears Conversion Goal

25 Aug (NucNet): USEC said yesterday that some 425 metric tonnes of highly-enriched uranium (HEU) has now been converted into fuel for US commercial nuclear power plants under the US-Russia ‘megatons to megawatts’ program.

USEC said the HEU was equivalent to eliminating 17,000 nuclear warheads.

Megatons to megawatts is a 20-year commercially financed government-industry partnership under which 500 metric tonnes of Russian weapons-grade uranium is being down blended to low enriched uranium for use as commercial reactor fuel.

USEC president and chief executive officer John Welch said: “Under this program, we have built a strong long-term relationship with our Russian partners, which we expect to continue through our new enrichment supply contract starting in 2013 after the megatons to megawatts program is successfully finished.”

USEC, as executive agent for the US government, and Techsnabexport, acting for the Russian government, implement the program, which is on track to complete the down blending of the equivalent of 20,000 nuclear warheads into nuclear fuel by the end of 2013.

Details of the initiative are on USEC’s website: http://www.usec.com

USEC Still Waits For Decision On Enrichment Plant Loan Guarantee

19 Aug (NucNet): USEC has amended an existing agreement with investors Toshiba and Babcock & Wilcox concerning plans to build the American Centrifuge uranium enrichment plant in Ohio.

The move allows USEC more time to obtain a commitment from the US Department of Energy (DOE) for a 2 billion US dollars (USD) (1.3 billion euro) loan guarantee to build the plant.

The existing agreement was valid until the end of July 2011, but has now been extended until 30 September 2011, USEC said on 15 August 2011.

USEC said the amended agreement provides time for it to finalize “a conditional commitment” with the DOE for the loan guarantee to support the construction of the centrifuge plant and “finalize the second phase of Toshiba and B&W’s investment in USEC”.

Japan To Continue With Plans For Two Units In Vietnam

12 Aug (NucNet): Japan will continue with plans to support Vietnam by building two nuclear reactor units in the country.

The decision was confirmed after a meeting of Japan’s state secretary for foreign affairs, Chiaki Takahashi, and Vietnamese deputy prime minister Hoang Trung Hai in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi on Thursday.

The governments of the two countries reached an agreement in October 2010 for Japan to build two reactor units with the first beginning commercial operation by 2021.

Vietnam’s initial nuclear plans are for four nuclear units in the southeastern province of Ninh Thuan.

An agreement has already been signed with Russia to build the first two units, with Japan scheduled to build the second two.

The agreement with Russia provides for the construction on a turnkey basis of two nuclear units, each of 1,000 megawatts.

According to the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF), Vietnam plans to build 14 units by 2030 to meet the country's growing demand for electricity.

Japan’s prime minister Naoto Kan has called for Japan to reduce its dependence on nuclear power generation.

But Japan's government has decided to honour contracts for nuclear plants that have already been signed or are under negotiation, JAIF said.

Japan Confirms Plans For New Nuclear Regulator

15 Aug (NucNet): The Japanese government has announced plans to create a new nuclear safety agency under the Environment Ministry.

This will free the country’s national regulator – the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, or NISA – from the influence of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).

The plans call for the new agency to be established in April 2012 by integrating NISA and the Cabinet Office’s Nuclear Safety Commission (NSC).

The decision to separate NISA from METI was first proposed in a 750-page report into the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear accident published in June 2011, three months after the accident.

The report said it was unclear at the time of the accident exactly who had ultimate authority for nuclear safety. NISA is the regulator, but it is a division of METI. That means NISA – which supervises the safety of nuclear energy – is overseen by the ministry that promotes nuclear energy.

To make the new agency independent from METI, the government said it would be established under the Environment Ministry, which does not have close ties to nuclear energy companies.

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Shifting views on nukes and quakes

Reactor operators and regulators scramble when the earth moves

The 5.8 magnitude earthquake that took place in central Virginia on Aug 23 has focused new attention on how well nuclear reactors can stand up to seismic events.

Not only to opinions vary, but the data needed to answer the question comes from different places and applies unevenly to plant infrastructure. Some parts of a nuclear power station stand up better to an earthquake than others. And some effects which seem to be earthshaking in their significance when described in the news media turn out to be an "oh never mind."

A case in point is the report in the Los Angeles Times that 25 dry casks with spent fuel inside them moved about one-to-four inches during the Aug 23 event at Dominion's North Anna reactor site. Each cask weighs 115 tons. None of them fell over.

Scott Burnell, a spokesman for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), told wire services, "We would expect the casks to survive without leaks of radiation."

Examples of vertical and horizontal spent fuel casks – Image: U.S. NRC

A nuclear engineer I know who is familiar with these casks has this to say about them . . .

"Spent fuel storage systems are among our most over-engineered structures and equipment. For instance, not only do you have to prove that they won't tip over for any design basis scenario, you also have to prove that if they do tip over, the primary seal isn't breached and that any cask damage wouldn't preclude fuel removal with normal handling equipment."

Even more interesting is the view of Dominion, the utility that owns and operates North Anna, about the casks moving during the earthquake. According to the Bloomberg wire service, company spokesman Richard Zuercher said the utility has not made a formal report to the NRC about the casks shifting in the quake.

"We are evaluating whether there would be any benefit to moving them back to their original positions or whether they are fine where they are."

Dry cask storage is the de facto long term solution

What’s interesting about all the focus on dry cask spent fuel storage is that, separately, as time goes on more of the nation’s inventory of spent fuel will be in that mode. Fuel coming right out of the reactor is too hot, thermally and in terms of radioactivity, to put in dry casks. That’s why it is cooled in wet storage under 20 feet of water as shielding for about five years.

Also the federal government has kicked the can down the road repeatedly in terms of a long term solution for spent fuel. That’s another story. For now all of the fuel is stored at the reactors that used it.

The Blue Ribbon Commission announced the locations and dates to take public testimony on its draft report on management of spent fuel. There is a link to the full text of the draft issued July 29 on the same page. Check the website for updates on times, locations, etc.

NRC tells utilities to take another look at quake risks

On Sept 1 the NRC released a draft requirement for comment asking nuclear utilities to conduct new reviews of how well their reactors would stand up to an earthquake. This isn't a knee jerk response to either the Virginia quake or Fukushima.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the NRC has been looking at the issue for the past six years. The newspaper reports that the new requirements will be difficult for utilities to meet within a two-year time frame. The reason is the new requirements focus on "intricate details of many components and systems" not previously analyzed for earthquake risk.

Reactor coolant pump ~ Image: World Nuclear News

How much work nuclear utilities will have to do once they finish the assessments depends on whether the work "is justified by tangible improvements in safety." So far, according to the WSJ, the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's trade group would say only that it will submit comments on the draft proposal by the end of October.

No one knows how to predict earthquakes or how strong they will be when they do occur. The threat to nuclear reactors isn't always just about the reactor itself or its containment structure. Plant managers also have to worry about pipes, pumps, and the equipment in the electrical switchyard.

The Associated Press has a long story on the wires this week that explores these issues in more depth. While the AP reports that a review of NRC documents shows the risk of core damage to reactors is low, it also reports that based on internal emails, the NRC thinks that plants need to take another look at whether risk assessments need updates.
AP reports that federal scientists update seismic assessments every six years, but there is no common process for applying the data to the nation's 104 reactors. In short, AP says, the NRC's understanding of earthquake risks is out of date.

The NRC isn't alarmed by this state of affairs but it has asked for comment on the new earthquake assessment process.

NRC seismic study announcement

The draft letter will is found in the agency’s electronic document database, ADAMS, by entering ML111710783 in the database’s search engine. The staff expects to hold a public meeting on the draft letter in mid-October to gather comments; meeting details will be announced separately in the next several weeks.

The letter represents the next step in the staff’s multi-year examination of updated seismic hazard information for the eastern and central United States, through the NRC’s Generic Issues program.

GI-199 was prompted by the seismic analyses included in applications from 2003 related to new reactor activity. The NRC issued an Information Notice in September 2010 regarding GI-199, including the agency’s conclusion that existing plant designs safely account for possible earthquakes. The notice is available in ADAMS by entering ML101970221 in the database’s search engine.

The NRC staff will consider the comments before finalizing the Generic Letter, which the staff expects to issue near the end of the year. The draft letter’s approach would have U.S. nuclear power plants perform their analyses within either one or two years, depending on the analysis method used, and deliver their results to the NRC. The agency will then determine whether additional actions are necessary.

What is a "design basis?"

My friend and colleague John H. Bickel, Ph.D., has a detailed technical analysis on his own blog - Evergreen Nuclear. Readers who want to review this information will find plenty of data that explains the issues. In his post Bickel takes take a closer look at what a design basis earthquake at a nuclear power plant actually means - and what it doesn't mean. Worth your time.

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Note to Readers - blog update

Faster load times with move of widgets to separate page

In an effort to get you to the information you want faster, I moved some of the resource hogging widgets, like Post Rank, to other pages. The Post Rank widget, which list the top ten blog posts, is now on the 'About' page.

Other widgets and some static listings are on a new 'Resources' page. I deleted the Sphere widget which stopped working due to changes at the hosting company. I added a Google + button to the bottom of each blog post in case you want to share it with others.  I deleted the "Twibes" twitter widget because there wasn't enough traffic on it to justify its presence here.

The blog roll is being kept current.  Any blog that doesn't update at least once a month is dropped from it.

If you look at an individual blog post, you will also see Blogger's share buttons, but you won't see them if you are looking at the whole blog. These changes should result in faster page load times for the main blog content.

I added a QR code and a mobile mode has been added for those of you who want to read the blog on smartphones.

Readers may wonder why this blog has no links to Facebook.  I've found that service isn't very good for business-related content. My social media services of choice are Twitter and Linkedin.

If you want to search for back issues, there are a couple of ways to do it.  You can use either the Google or the Lijit search boxes to find topics by keyword.

August has been a very busy month. Most of my work has been in support of the American Nuclear Society blog ~ ANS Nuclear Cafe - due to the combination of an earthquake and hurricane. The hurricane season isn't over yet, but for the moment we're in a quiet period.

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Japan’s search for nuclear export deals

The hunt is on in Vietnam, Turkey, and elsewhere

The Japanese government, in close cooperation with some of the nation’s largest heavy industrial manufacturers, is seeking to export Japan’s nuclear technologies, products, and services despite the loss of six reactors on March 11 to a combination of a record earthquake and massive tsunami.

The replacement of Prime Minister Naoto Kan with 54-year-old Yoshihiko Noda, (right) a career politician and the current finance minister, may play a key role in achieving success.

Prime Minister Kan ended his term with a strong call for the nation to retreat from dependence on nuclear energy. At one point he also tried to shut down efforts to continue exports even though he had played a leading role inking a deal with Vietnam in October 2010 for two reactors.

When this policy tilt became apparent on August 5, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano prevailed on Kan to back off. The country’s industrial exports are needed to pay for its lack of agricultural self sufficiency, and it depends on high value deals like new reactors. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Japan produces only 40 percent domestically of the food it needs to feed its population. Basic economics demands that the country sell finished goods abroad to pay for food imports at home.

Read the full story exclusively at ANS Nuclear Cafe online now.
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