Chinese nuke plant safer than Fukushima: Experts

From ANI

Honk Kong, Mar.20: Experts have said that China's Daya Bay nuclear plant (built in the 1990s) is safer than the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan (1971), as it is newer and has been built considering the International Atomic Energy Agency's new standard, in terms of location, reactor type and structure.

Japan's multiple crises has raised concerns over the safety of the Daya Bay nuclear power plant, , among the Chinese people, as it is located just 60 kilometers away from Hong Kong.

Japan's nuclear plant is located on its eastern shore which is a major earthquake prone area thus making it more vulnerable to earthquakes and tsunami, but China's nuclear plant, is not located in such an area making it less prone to such disasters.

Engineering expert Dr. Ray Su of the University of Hong Kong, said that the seawalls built around the Fukushima plant should have been higher, or the generators should have been placed on higher ground to withstand potential flooding

The Fukushima plant has only one cooling system, which uses the reactor's heat to raise steam directly for power generation, which, according to Professor C.F. Lee of the University of Hong Kong, may release radioactive products while venting.

Whereas, the Daya Bay nuclear power plant has two cooling systems, one system uses water under pressure to transfer reactor heat to an adjoining but separate secondary cooling system to raise steam for power generation. The steam generated bears no radioactive materials, so even in case of leakage, it will not carry radioactive materials.

The containment of Daya Bay nuclear power plant is also much stronger than the Fukushima Plant.

The Fukushima Nuclear Plant has no effective back up to cope with a crisis. When the tsunami flooded the plant and destroyed diesel generators, there was no power back up to run the reactor cooling systems.

"The Daya Bay nuclear power plant has three sets of back-up feed water pumps to support reactor residual heat removal, with two driven by electricity and the remaining one driven by the steam generated from the secondary cooling system, so in case of loss of electrical power, the steam-driven pump is still available to pump the cooling water for residual heat removal." Xinhua quoted Professor C.F. Lee as saying.

The current nuclear crisis in Japan has triggered many nations to evaluate their plans for building nuclear power plants and to review the safety arrangements in their existing plants.

Japan is going through a major crisis after being hit by a magnitude 8.9 earthquake and tsunami last Friday, which damaged cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant causing explosions in some of the reactors and radiation leakage in and around the plant.


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