Securing China's Nuclear Power Plants

By 2012 China had fifteen reactors in operation with an aggregateinstalled capacity of about 12 GWe. In addition, twenty-sevenreactors, capable of producing a total of 29 GWe, are underconstruction. While the pace of rapid nuclear development hasslowed in the wake of Fukushima, China now plans to grow itstotal nuclear capacity to 40 GWe by 2015 and 58 GWe by 2020—making the Chinese nuclear industry by far the fastest growingindustry in the world. While China has been focusing more onimprovements in nuclear safety at its nuclear facilities since theFukushima accident, it continues to strengthen nuclear securityas well. In particular, the Fukushima accident may increase theinterest of terrorists in targeting those power reactors.Since September 11, 2001, China has substantially advancedits physical protection system, with a switch in focusfrom the traditional “guns, gates, guards” approach to an effectivemixed approach, combining personnel with moderntechniques. Then-Chinese President Hu Jintao emphasized atthe 2012 Nuclear Security Summit that, ”In the future, Chinawill further take nuclear security measures, make sure the securityof its own nuclear materials and facilities, improve theoverall nuclear security.” This paper examines the specific anddetailed physical protection approaches that are currently appliedto China’s nuclear power plants, and recommends furthersteps to improve China’s existing nuclear security system.