China warned over 'insane' plans for new nuclear power plants

[bananas]

Source: The Guardian

China’s plans for a rapid expansion of nuclear power plants are “insane” because the country is not investing enough in safety controls, a leading Chinese scientist has warned.

Proposals to build plants inland, as China ends a moratorium on new generators imposed after the Fukushima disaster in March 2011, are particularly risky, the physicist He Zuoxiu said, because if there was an accident it could contaminate rivers that hundreds of millions of people rely on for water and taint groundwater supplies to vast swathes of important farmlands.

<snip>

He spoke of risks including “corruption, poor management abilities and decision-making capabilities”. He said: “They want to build 58 (gigawatts of nuclear generating capacity) by 2020 and eventually 120 to 200. This is insane.”

He’s challenge to the nuclear plans is particularly powerful because of his scientific credentials and a long history of taking a pro-government stance on controversial issues, from the 1950s destruction of Beijing’s city walls to the crackdown in the 1990s on the religious group Falun Gong.

<snip>

“There were internal discussions on upgrading standards in the past four years, but doing so would require a lot more investment which would affect the competitiveness and profitability of nuclear power,” He said. “Nuclear energy costs are cheap because we lower our standards.”

<snip>

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/25/china-nuclear-power-plants-expansion-he-zuoxiu

[FLPanhandle]

1. My brother (a satellite engineer) visited the Chinese space program

He literally walked out of one building due to how they were storing highly reactive rocket fuel.

He said they couldn't get him back in that building again.

Safety is an afterthought for Chinese engineers.

[roamer65]

2. When you live in an overpopulated nation like China...

human life becomes very devalued and disposable. Not surprised at all of the lack of safety concerns in that country.

[DetlefK]

3. I don't think it's about not valueing human life.

I believe it's more about their culture of copying. Copying something is a sign of admiration in China. (For example: "Kung Fu Hustle" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373074/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 is a ridiculous martial-arts-comedy, patched together from popular artistic tropes cobbled/stolen together from all kinds of sources out of admiration for them)

They are not copying a product as in trying to build something similar. They are staying on the surface, they are just mimicking the product.
Imagine, you are a potter in medieval China and you see a vase with a beautiful design. Will you try to get the same clay that the vase was made from? Willyou try to shape and burn it with the same procedure? Will you try to get the same colors? No, you work with what you have and try to get the look right.

Getting the look right.

And I don't think that Communism is particularly helping. There are lots of stories from soviet countries where mix-ups and work-accidents happened because the worker no longer had a personal connection and a personal interest in his work and his product.
Like the cows who were fed hay, except that nobody bothered to retrieve the plastic threads that were used to tie the hay together and the cows ate them, the threads built up in their stomachs and the cows died. It's not my cow, why would I care?
Like the factory in soviet Russia which built chandeliers, except that the output was measured by weight, not by numbers. So the factory built especially heavy chandeliers. In fact, so heavy that they started falling from ceilings.

1. Getting the look right matters most.
2. No personal interest in doing things properly.
3. Security is money and China's local politicians are notoriously corrupt.

[awoke_in_2003]

5. Yep...

and some here are against country of origin labels on food, claiming it is discriminatory. Sorry, I don't want to eat beef or chicken from China. They don't give a crap, and if they sell us tainted meat nothing will happen to them. Profit trumps any "regulation" in these stinking trade bills.

[davidpdx]

4. Let them end up with a Chernobyl size disaster

They don't want to listen to reasonable opinions, they want to get it done fast. When the Chinese people are walking around with a dark green glow about them maybe they will admit they were wrong.

[FrodosPet]

6. Will China export their awesome looking nuclear energy technology to Venezuela?

"Given that, it is natural for China and Latin America to get closer, as China boasts advanced technology, necessary equipment and sufficient production capacity -- all at reasonable prices -- which the region needs badly for its economic pursuits."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/110840949

[samsingh]

7. they are overstretching