Nuclear philosophy(2)

OPERATION LAUNCH: A technician works at the Ningde Nuclear Power Plant in southeast China's Fujian province on April 18, 2013, the day the first generator at the plant went into operation (ZHANG GUOJUN)

The past years have seen a rapid improvement of China's comprehensive capability in ensuring nuclear security within its borders, said Sun Qin, Chairman of the China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC), the country's leading nuclear plant operator, to Xinhua News Agency.

According to Sun, the CNNC has over the years stepped up efforts in nuclear material accounting in line with international standards, and continued to strengthen the physical protection of nuclear materials and facilities. In addition to applying new physical protection standards to new nuclear power projects, the company has continued to conduct overhauls of the physical protection level at its old facilities. Beyond investing a lot in infrastructure and hardware, it also has focused more on nuclear security mechanism and system building in a comprehensive manner that combines the serious implementation of protection arrangements, the advances of nuclear technological research, and the collection of feedbacks from industries.

Moreover, Sun added that the CNNC has been active in international research cooperation on the "down-blending" of highly enriched uranium to low enriched uranium in civilian nuclear uses, an effort that has been promoted by the Nuclear Security Summit to minimize the use of dangerous materials for preventing nuclear terrorism.

"As nuclear security is a real global matter, China has actively participated in all kinds of international cooperation on the issue," Liu told Beijing Review.

China has been represented by its head of state at all three nuclear security summits, the first of which was held in 2010. Since 2006, China and the United States have cooperated with each other to conduct nuclear material protection drills.

The China-US Center of Excellence in Nuclear Security, which is being built in the suburbs of Beijing with the joint efforts of the CAEA and its US counterpart, is another good example in terms of international cooperation in nuclear security. Following its expected inauguration in 2015, the center will be the largest nuclear security international exchange, training and demonstration center in the Asia-Pacific region.

After its completion, the center will be able to carry out tasks such as nuclear material analysis and identification, training of nuclear security personnel and accounting of nuclear materials. It is estimated that it can provide 2,000 personnel with professional nuclear security training.

Wang Yiren, Deputy Director of the CAEA, said the center will not only help China to learn more advanced technology and attain management experience in nuclear security protection, but also promote technological development and exchanges worldwide.

Moreover, China has launched a number of cooperative projects with Russia and Kazakhstan to combat the illicit trafficking of nuclear materials and has been helping Ghana to convert a highly enriched uranium-fueled research reactor to using low enriched uranium within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). China has also made contributions to the IAEA Nuclear Security Fund, and helped enhance the nuclear security capability of other Asia-Pacific countries through hosting training sessions and a variety of other ways.