According to media reports, the Chinese government is scrapping plans for a $6 billion nuclear processing plant in southern province of Guandong after hundreds of protesters took to the streets to voice opposition to the project.
“The people’s government of the City of Heshan has decided to respect public opinion and will not consider the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC’s) Longwan industrial park project,” according to the government statement.
According to the media, reporting the issue on July 12, the proposed nuclear complex was meant to have been a uranium processing facility, but the plans caused considerable unease in the neighboring financial district of Hong Kong and in nearby Macau, as well as among local residents. The project was designed to produce 1,000 tonnes of nuclear fuel by 2020.
It would appear that the unease in neighboring Macau and Hong Kong played a significant role in the decision. The local Macau authorities formally raised the issue with the Guangdong authorities.
However, a Beijing nuclear expert, told The Independent newspaper that he was surprised the project had been scrapped. “Compared to a nuclear power plant, a uranium processing facility is way safer, as there is no fusion or reaction taking place in the production process,” he told the paper.
The sudden dropping of the project reflects a change in Chinese government policy on environmental issues. The authorities have recently canceled, postponed or relocated several metal and petrochemical plants following strong public opposition. There have been a number of reports in the Chinese and international media about the extent of pollution from Chinese rapid economic growth, including ‘cancer towns’, which are blighted by heavy metals polluting the ground water, rivers and top soil.
China is expanding its nuclear capacity from 12.6 GW at present to 60-70 GW by the end of the decade.
Guandong is already one of the country’s largest centers of nuclear power generation. It operates five nuclear reactors and plans to build another dozen. The CNNC plans are part of a concerted national effort to reduce China’s dependence on coal and boost the use of other forms of cleaner energy production.
