Safety concerns over the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant – located only 130km from Hong Kong – have escalated as the plant nears completion and the concrete shells encasing the plant’s two reportedly faulty pressure reactors have now been sealed, drone images gathered by FactWire can reveal. Significantly, the sealing of the shells means that they cannot be removed or replaced, even if proven unsafe. At least seven French engineers based at the plant told FactWire that Unit 1 of the plant had already undergone a large number of tests and the soonest it could come into service would be 2018, a year later than the authorities have announced. However, they said the Chinese authorities had been pushing hard for the construction to speed up so that it could come online in 2017 as originally scheduled and become the world’s first power plant to use third-generation nuclear technology. Safety concerns were sparked last year after problems were found in the reactor pressure vessels made by its French supplier. Surrounded by mountains and sited by the sea in Chixi town, Taishan Nuclear Power Plant is isolated and no one can enter without permission. FactWire sent a drone to obtain aerial footage. It found that the main facilities were complete and the construction appeared finished but for a few cranes still standing. The domes covering the two containment structures for the pressure reactors are now sealed with concrete, meaning that the twin reactors, which will hold radioactive material, are ready to be switched on. Albert Lai Kwong-tak, convenor of Hong Kong think tank the Professional Commons and a close observer of China’s nuclear energy development, said that it was unacceptable for the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant to be the first EPR plant to go into service in the world ahead of France, effectively bypassing supervision by the French nuclear safety authority. Lai believes that given EDF wants to export its third-generation nuclear technology around the world, it would not wish the Taishan project to go wrong and risk damaging its reputation. However, he added a note of concern. “Since EDF’s share in the Taishan project is only 30 per cent, the Chinese side has the power to decide when to turn on the units,” Lai said. “And because CGN only has to report to NNSA, it is not obliged to do anything, even if the EPRs do not pass the examination of ASN [the French nuclear safety watchdog]. The key point here is whether it is explicitly stated in the skill transfer agreement between the two sides that CGN must have ASN’s authorisation before they could activate the reactors.”
Hong Kong Free Press 26th May 2016 read more »