According to US officials and information obtained by CNN, the US government has spent the past week analyzing an allegation of a leak at a Chinese nuclear power station after a French business that owns and operates it warned of an “imminent radioactive threat.”
The Taishan Nuclear Power Plant, which is located in Chixi town, has operated the reactors strictly by business license paperwork and technical procedures since it began commercial operation, according to CGN (China General Nuclear Power Corporation).
The operation indicators for both reactors complied with nuclear safety laws as well as the technical requirements of power facilities.
Following a US media report of a potential leak at a plant it partly owns in China’s southern Guangdong province, a French nuclear corporation said Monday it was trying to remedy a “performance issue” at the plant.
The US government is investigating an allegation of a leak at the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant after Framatome, a French corporation, warned of an “imminent radiation threat,” according to CNN.
“The environmental indicators of Taishan Nuclear Power Plant and its surroundings are normal,” the power plant’s operator, China General Nuclear Power Group, said in a statement on Sunday evening. CNN said that the warning included an accusation that the Chinese safety authorities were upping the permitted levels for radiation outside the site to avoid having to shut it down, citing a letter from Framatome to the US energy department.
According to Lin Boqiang, director of Xiamen University’s China Center for Energy Economics Research, China’s third-generation nuclear reactors, such as the Taishan nuclear power plant and the Hualong One technology, have higher safety standards than second-generation reactors used in Europe and the United States.
He also stated that, given the Chinese government’s concentration on nuclear growth, any developers who fail to adhere to the country’s nuclear safety regulations will be “fatal.”
The second EPR reactor at the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant had finished its overhaul as anticipated, according to the statement.
The overhaul’s safety, quality, and project timeline indicators have all met their objectives.
CGN currently owns 70% of the Taishan Nuclear Power Joint Venture Co, while EDF owns the other 30%.
