{"id":106995,"date":"2021-06-16T21:44:24","date_gmt":"2021-06-16T13:44:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mediaintel.asia\/?p=422476"},"modified":"2021-06-16T21:44:24","modified_gmt":"2021-06-16T13:44:24","slug":"china-says-nuclear-fuel-rods-damaged-no-radiation-leak-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/2021\/06\/16\/china-says-nuclear-fuel-rods-damaged-no-radiation-leak-2\/","title":{"rendered":"China says nuclear fuel rods damaged, no radiation leak"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"MediaIntel.Asia\"<\/a><\/div>\n

By JOE McDONALD Associated Press
\nBEIJING (AP) \u2014 A Chinese nuclear power plant near Hong Kong had five broken fuel rods in a reactor but no radioactivity leaked, the government said Wednesday in its first confirmation of the incident that prompted concern over the facility\u2019s safety.
\nRadiation rose inside the No. 1 reactor of the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant in Guangdong province but was contained by barriers that functioned as planned, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said on its social media account.
\nThe Hong Kong government said it was watching the plant and asking officials in Guangdong for details after its French co-owner on Monday reported increased \u201cnoble gases\u201d in the reactor. Experts said that suggested fuel rods broke and leaked radioactive gas produced during nuclear fission.
\nNoble gases such as xenon and krypton are byproducts of fission along with particles of cesium, strontium and other radioactive elements.
\n\u201cThere is no problem of radioactive leakage to the environment,\u201d the ministry statement said. It said radiation in the reactor coolant increased but was within the \u201callowable range.\u201d
\nThe protective envelope on about five of the reactor\u2019s 60,000 fuel rods is damaged, the ministry said. It said such damage was inevitable due to manufacturing and other problems and was well below the level the facility was designed to cope with.
\nThe ministry said regulators would oversee measures to control radiation levels within the reactor but gave no details.
\nThe Taishan plant, which began commercial operation in December 2018, is owned by China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group and Electricite de France. A second reactor began operating in September 2019.
\nThey are the first of a new type called European Pressurized Reactors designed by Framatome, of which Electricite de France is the majority owner. Two more are being built in Finland and France.
\nThe ministry denied a report by CNN that regulators increased the level of radiation allowed outside the power plant to avoid shutting it down. The ministry said regulators reviewed a report about higher radiation levels in the reactor.
\nThe International Atomic Energy Agency, a U.N. body, said Wednesday the China Atomic Energy Authority reported the reactor\u2019s \u201ccontainment integrity is maintained\u201d and \u201cthere is no environmental concern.\u201d
\nChina is one of the biggest users of nuclear power and is building more reactors at a time when few other governments plan new facilities because the cost of solar, wind and other alternatives is plunging.
\nChinese leaders see nuclear power as a way to reduce air pollution and demand for imports of oil and gas, which they deem a security risk.
\nChina has 50 operable reactors and is building 18 more, according to the World Nuclear Association, an industry group. China has constructed reactors based on French, U.S., Russian and Canadian technology. State-owned companies also have developed their own reactor, the Hualong One, and are marketing it abroad.
\nHong Kong gets as much as one-third of its power from the Daya Bay nuclear power plant east of the territory in Guangdong. Plans call for Hong Kong to use more mainland nuclear power to allow the closure of coal-fired power plants.
\nPreviously, the Taishan facility leaked a \u201csmall amount\u201d of radioactive gas on April 9, the National Nuclear Safety Administration said on its website. It said the event was \u201cLevel 0,\u201d or \u201cwithout safety significance.\u201d
\nCopyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n

This data comes from MediaIntel.Asia's Media Intelligence and Media Monitoring Platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By JOE McDONALD Associated Press
\nBEIJING (AP) \u2014 A Chinese nuclear power plant near Hong Kong had five broken fuel rods in a reactor but no radioactivity leaked, the government said Wednesday in its first confirmation of the incident that prompted conc…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":253,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,692,144,69,138,339,1607,194,1597,465,1542,100],"tags":[10424,3472,1884,10388,10352,9773,7654,2127,7571],"class_list":["post-106995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beijing","category-canada","category-china","category-copyright","category-guangdong","category-hong-kong","category-manufacturing","category-news-chinese-law","category-pollution","category-social-media","category-technology","category-website","tag-china-general-news","tag-chinese","tag-climate-change","tag-esg","tag-european","tag-finland","tag-france","tag-import","tag-oil"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106995"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/253"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106995"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106996,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106995\/revisions\/106996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}