China's largest nuclear power firm holds open house

China's largest nuclear power company announced on Wednesday that it has created an open house event to be held annually on Aug. 7 as part of efforts to make its operations more transparent.

The China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN), operator of the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant in the city of Shenzhen in south China's Guangdong Province, said the event will help boost public trust in the safety of nuclear power.

Hu Guangyao, a CGN spokesman, said at a press conference held at the Daya plant that the company can provide timely responses to safety concerns through increased communication with the public.

The 2011 leakage of radioactive material from the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan has raised concerns about nuclear safety in China.

A planned CGN nuclear fuel processing project in Guangdong's city of Heshan was cancelled in July due to opposition from local residents.

Wu Yuxiong, mayor of Heshan, said while addressing complaints that the Heshan government respects the public's opinion and will not apply for approval for the project.

CGN supplies 53 percent of China's nuclear power. It is the largest nuclear power plant builder in the world and its Daya plant is currently China's largest nuclear plant.

"CGN has realized that ensuring production safety depends not only on technology, but also transparent operation and public supervision," Hu said.

On Wednesday, a group of students from the Nanjing Institute of Technology in east China's Jiangsu Province became the first group of visitors to attend CGN's open house.

Zhou Liang and Zhang Yuan, both undergraduates at the school, surveyed radiation levels at the plant, as well as collected data from the plant's adjoining area and the urban area of Shenzhen.

"The data matched that suggested in the company's safety report. The open house allowed us to carry out our survey and join in supervising safety at the plant," they said.

CGN was previously known as the China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group. It changed its name in May, as the previous name caused it to be frequently confused with a provincial-level firm from Guangdong.

The State Council announced the establishment of the company in 1994, when its first nuclear power unit at the Daya plant went into production.

Boasting uranium reserves totaling 338,000 tonnes, the company has developed its overseas business in Namibia and Kazakhstan and is bidding on a nuclear power project in Turkey.