Chinese regulators fall behind as reactors go up

A worker walks near the Taishan 1 Areva SA EPR reactor at the China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group Co. atomic plant in Taishan, Guangdong Province, China, on Thursday, July 29, 2010. Guangdong Nuclear Power Group Co., the nation's second-biggest builder of atomic plants, hopes to build six reactors in Taishan, southern Guangdong province, Areva SA's China deputy president Eric Neisse. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
A worker walks near the Taishan 1 Areva SA EPR reactor at the China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group Co. atomic plant in Taishan, Guangdong Province, China, on Thursday, July 29, 2010. Guangdong Nuclear Power Group Co., the nation's second-biggest builder of atomic plants, hopes to build six reactors in Taishan, southern Guangdong province, Areva SA's China deputy president Eric Neisse. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

HONG KONG -- China is moving quickly to become the first country to operate the world's most powerful atomic reactor even as France's nuclear regulator says communication and cooperation on safety measures with its Chinese counterparts are lacking.

In the coastal city of Taishan, 100 miles from the financial hub of Hong Kong, Chinese builders are entering the final construction stages for two state-of-the-art European Pressurized Reactors. Each will produce about twice as much electricity as the average reactor worldwide.

France has a lot riding on a smooth roll out of China's European Pressurized Reactors. The country is home to Areva, which developed the next generation reactor, and utility Electricite de France, which oversees the project. The two companies, controlled by the French state, need a safe, trouble-free debut in China to ensure a future for their biggest new product in a generation. And French authorities have not hidden their concerns.

"It's not always easy to know what is happening at the Taishan site," Stephane Pailler, head of international relations at France's Autorite de Surete Nucleaire regulator, said in an interview. "We don't have a regular relationship with the Chinese on EPR control like we have with the Finnish."

Calls and faxes to China's National Nuclear Safety Administration regulator seeking comment went unanswered. China General Nuclear Power Corp., the atomic operator building the reactor with the French, didn't responded to queries.

The first indications of French unease came when Philippe Jamet, one of the regulator's five governing commissioners, testified before French Parliament in February.

"Unfortunately, collaboration isn't at a level we would wish it to be" with China, Jamet said. "One of the explanations for the difficulties in our relations is that the Chinese safety authorities lack means. They are overwhelmed."

Then, in March, the European Pressurized Reactors's internal safety inspector Jean Tandonnet published his annual report to the utility's chief executive that detailed a mid-2013 visit to the Taishan building site. He wrote that "the state of conservation" of large components like pumps and steam generators at Taishan "was not at an adequate level" and was "far" from the standards of the two other reactor plants, one in Finland and the other in Flamanville, France. Tandonnet urged corrective measures and wrote that studies "are underway on tsunami and flooding risks."

Tandonnet's report notwithstanding, Herve Machenaud, Electricite de France senior executive vice president in charge of generation, said the company is satisfied with China's safety procedures. In China, "there is real, independent control that works at least as well as in most countries," Machenaud said.

At Areva, Chief Operating Officer Philippe Knoche said China's regulator "is extremely demanding," in an interview.

Some 28 reactors of various models are under construction in China. That's more building than any other nation, and the country hasn't reported a serious nuclear accident in the 22 years it has operated nuclear plants for commercial use.

Still, the international nuclear industry and its regulators have remained skittish after the 2011 Fukushima meltdown in Japan. In that catastrophe, radiation spread well beyond Tokyo, 135 miles from the wrecked power plant, in a disaster that rallied regulators worldwide to be more vigilant.

And in a rare public comment about safety concerns, China's State Council Research Office three years ago warned that the development of the country's power plants may be accelerating too quickly.

"If the current momentum of development continues, if too many nuclear power projects are started too quickly, it could jeopardize the healthy, long-term development of nuclear power," Fan Bi, a deputy director at the State Council Research Office, wrote in an article for Outlook Magazine, published by the official Xinhua news agency, two months before the Fukushima disaster.

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