China drafts nuclear safety law

China is to speed up drafting of the nuclear safety law and atomic energy law, a white paper on its nuclear emergency preparedness said on Wednesday.

Since China started to build its first nuclear power plant in 1985, the country has made fast progress in legislation of nuclear emergency response, said the document issued by the State Council Information Office.

China adopted a regulation on emergency management of nuclear accidents in 1993, the first in this area, and then the law on prevention and control of radioactive pollution. The law on emergency response covered nuclear accidents, the white paper said.

The state security law, revised in July 2015, reinforced regulation on nuclear emergencies.

Over the years, the country also set up a nuclear emergency management system with clear division of duty among the central government, provincial governments and nuclear power plants.

At the national level, the National Nuclear Accident Emergency Coordination Committee is made up of civilian departments and military and has a general office in charge of regular works.

Accordingly, governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities where nuclear power plants are located, set up nuclear emergency coordination departments and took charge of emergency response within their jurisdiction.

The central government has drawn up a national contingency plan while provincial governments and all nuclear power plants issued their own plans. Endi