I have grave concerns about the ambitious Chinese program to expand their use of nuclear power by building more nuclear power reactors. Their record for regulation of corporate behavior in the nuclear sector has not been stellar. A lot of the Chinese people share my concerns and major nuclear construction projects have already been blocked by public protests.
In the past year, there have been a series of incidents on nuclear construction projects. The Chinese National Nuclear Safety Administration (CNNSA) released information on sixteen incidents that occurred in 2016 at eight nuclear power stations. The information was made public in the Global Times newspaper which is closely associated with the Chinese Communist Party. That means that the release of the information was sanctioned at the highest levels of the Chinese government.
Six of the reported incidents involved failure of staff to observe operational guidelines. Four of the incidents were attributed to the failure of communications. The final six incidents happened because staff pushed the wrong buttons. It is claimed that none of the incidents resulted in the release of radioactive materials or any other threat to the public. Such accidents and incidents have also been reported for previous years.
Experts who reviewed the reported incidents concluded that the poor public safety record was related to the country's political culture. One of the main problems with the system is that the individuals who are charged with inspecting and regulating the nuclear industry have a lower rank in the Communist Party than the officials in control of the state-owned nuclear companies. It is politically risky for lower-ranking officials to criticize higher ranking officials.
Currently, the Chinese technicians who construct and operate the nuclear power reactors are under enormous pressure to produce results. Like the nuclear regulators, they are also at a lower rank in the Communist Party than the men who run the state-owned companies. This means that they fear for their party positions if they don't deliver results on schedule and in budget. The technicians are also compensated at a lower level than the administrators. This results in more people wanting to climb in rank in the party in administrative positions than wanting to train as nuclear technicians.
Up until very recently, the Chinese nuclear industry operated at a high level of secrecy because of the connection of nuclear technology to nuclear weapons and national security. Because of this blanket of secrecy, people were afraid to publicly discuss problems in the nuclear industry. This secrecy is at odds with the kind of transparency needed to safely construct and operate nuclear power plants.
While China has strict regulations and guidelines for the nuclear industry, analysts say that often these rules are only for show and officials will ignore violations as long as projects are on schedule and in budget. Any official who really drills down into serious problems in the industry risks offending entrenched vested interest groups. The fact that there are deep problems with the Chinese system of corporate governance virtually guarantees that the will be serious incidents and accidents in the future.
