China’s nuclear plant leak poses no threat to environment, public, workers

Radiation that leaked from Daya Bay nuclear power station, China’s first large-scale atomic generator, poses no danger to the environment, the public or plant workers, said China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group Co.

The leak, detected on Oct. 23, was caused by a fault at a pipeline bearing coolant from the No. 1 reactor, the state-owned company said on its website today. The fault has been fixed since it was found on Oct. 26, Guangdong Nuclear said.

The leak is Daya Bay’s second following a leakage from a fuel rod in May. The No. 1 reactor has been shut since Oct. 22 for scheduled maintenance, Guangdong Nuclear, which owns 75 percent of the plant, said today.

Guangdong Nuclear classified the leak as a “level one” incident, the least serious on a scale of one to seven set by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The Daya Bay plant in southern China’s Guangdong province is 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui district and has been in commercial operation since 1994. It generates 10 billion kilowatt-hours a year to Hong Kong and Guangdong, according to the website of the Hong Kong Nuclear Investment, a unit of CLP Holdings Ltd. that owns 25 percent of the power station.

Maintenance at the No. 1 reactor will be completed by the end of November, Guangdong Nuclear said.

Chest x-rays

Hong Kong-listed CLP fell 1.1 percent to close at HK$63.05. The benchmark Hang Seng Index declined 1.4 percent.

Workers at the station were exposed to radiation equivalent to two chest X-rays after the leak, the South China Morning Post reported, citing Chan Siu-hung, managing director of Hong Kong Nuclear Investment. The leak was contained in a sealed building, the English-language daily newspaper said.

Guangdong Nuclear didn’t say in its statement how much radiation the workers were exposed to.

Hong Kong lawmaker Wong Kwok-hing criticized the plant operators in a hearing today, saying the leak should have been disclosed to the public immediately.

The 1986 nuclear disaster at Chernobyl atomic station in the Ukraine had sparked protests in Hong Kong against the Daya Bay plant in the mid-1980s. Environmental activists were concerned about the risks of building a plant close to Hong Kong.

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