China sets up three nuclear emergency response teams

BEIJING -- Chinese nuclear developers have set up three emergency response teams to handle possible radiological accidents, eyeing a higher level of nuclear security as the country restarts its nuclear power build-up.

One team is based in Yantai of east China's Shandong Province, while the other two are based at two of China's earliest nuclear power plants, in Daya Bay and Qinshan respectively, according to the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP).

The teams will help China cope with possible emergencies involving releases of large-scale radioactive materials, aside from the already highest safety standards for building nuclear reactors, said Li Ganjie, head of the National Nuclear Safety Administration under the MEP.

Li said the teams are of high significance for nuclear power plants to prevent or defuse serious accidents. The administration has also coordinated emergency response measures among China's five major state-owned nuclear power developers, said a report from China Environment News.

The three response teams were set up by state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation, China Nuclear Power Engineering Co., Ltd and China Power Investment Corporation respectively.

China approved the construction of new nuclear reactors in March, after it halted its nuclear power expansion in 2011, when a tsunami caused a nuclear meltdown at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

China is faced with more nuclear risk as it now has 23 nuclear power plants in operation and 27 under construction, the largest scale in the world.