Raymond Ho Chung-tai, chairman of the Guangdong Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station and Ling’ao Nuclear Power Station Nuclear Safety Consultative Committee, made the statement at an annual meeting at the station, reports The Standard.

An air radiation monitor failed to operate in one of the Ling’ao reactor buildings on March 27. Ho said a worker was negligent by sealing a radiation monitor in order to keep dust from entering it.

In other recent developments regarding nuclear energy, Chinese premier Li Keqiang announced in London that China will design, own, and operate nuclear power plants for Britain, reports the Daily Mail.

However, the announcement was met with concerns over national security. As well, British MPs expressed some reservations about cooperating with China to build the nuclear power stations because of the country’s human rights record, an act they say amounts to “accepting money tainted with blood“.

Ling’ao is one of three nuclear power plants operating in Guangdong Province, with the other two being Daya Bay and Yangjiang. In conjunction with other local power plants currently under construction, Guangdong has more nuclear power plants than anywhere else in China.

Guangdong is set to host a national-level safety drill simulating a nuclear disaster next year, the first held since 2009.

Photo: henu.edu

Code-named “Heavenly Shield”, the drill is the first to be held on a national scale since 2009.

Details such as location and scheduling were not made available. Huang Min, a nuclear safety coordinator with the State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence, said the drill would simulate an incident during the refueling process whereby depleted uranium fuel rods are replaced with new ones.

According to a preliminary plan, Guangdong Province was chosen to be the site of next year’s drill because of its long history in civilian nuclear power use.

Guangdong has three nuclear power plants in operation at Daya Bay, Lingao and Yangjiang. Combining those in operation and under construction, the province has more nuclear reactors than anywhere else in China.

The Daya Bay nuclear plant is the oldest nuclear power plant currently operating in China.

China conducted its last national nuclear safety drill in Lianyungang, Jiangsu in 2009. The drill simulated a reactor leak and tested the ability of military and government agencies to contain the leak while local residents rehearsed evacuation procedures.

Photo: Wordtotheys

In China, I bet [people] would have immediately broken into and looted the surrounding convenience stores/supermarkets.

A tiny pellet of a country, with nothing [few resources], being able to beat the shit and piss out of Russia and China…is not without reasons…

In Japan, the cars yield to the people. In China, the cars can’t wait to run over your body, even if you have the green light and the car is making a turn.

Without bringing up anything else, on the character exhibited when fasting disaster, we really can’t compare.
Even when there is no disaster, for simply sitting in a seat or using the toilet, we’re capable of fighting and arguing over.

We won’t post some of the more negative (read: ignorant) comments posted on Weibo, but you can read them for yourselves here. Of course, ignorance isn’t just a trait found in China. But such is the reaction when disaster befalls a nation that is despised by a great many Chinese people for its historical atrocities.

On a positive note, Premier Wen Jiabao addressed the Japanese earthquake at the close of the National People’s Congress yesterday:

It was only at the very end of his nearly 2.5-hour press conference on Monday that Premier Wen Jiabao turned his attention to Japan. He first asked if there were Japanese journalists among the gathering of hundreds (there were), then said he didn’t want to take a question from them, but had something to say. Wen offered China’s “deep condolences” to Japan.

Wen meets with reporters once every year, at the close of the National People’s Congress. He takes a pre-screened selection of questions from journalists from China and other countries. This year no Japanese reporter was called on. Instead, Wen made a statement.

“China is also a country prone to earthquake disasters and we fully empathize with how they feel now,” Wen said. “We will provide more as Japan needs it and we want to continue to help as necessary.”

Some (such as Slate) are arguing that as one of the world’s richest countries, Japan doesn’t necessarily need cash donations, if you wish to help. Instead, the country will likely need blood, which you can donate at any Red Cross in the PRD (there are many).