According to a report by China National Radio's "News and Newspaper Summary," Wang Yiren, deputy director of the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense and deputy director of the China Atomic Energy Authority, said in a recent exclusive interview that site selection for inland nuclear power plants has basically been determined and construction is expected to begin during the 13th Five-Year Plan period.

Recently, the maximum radiation level at the containment vessel of Unit 2 at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant reached 650 sieverts per hour. A person exposed to such radiation for several dozen seconds would die, which has once again aroused public concern. Wang Yiren explained that this is in fact a legacy of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan. The Fukushima accident was the result of an extreme natural disaster combined with improper human handling. If the relevant measures in Japan had been in place after the tsunami and earthquake occurred at that time, today's situation could have been avoided.

Wang Yiren: It was improper handling. After the power outage, the reactor was still continuously releasing residual heat. If you do not cool it, the reactor core will certainly be damaged. If emergency handling had been proper, emergency diesel generators could have been immediately dispatched to restore power supply. Besides, isn't it right by the sea? Seawater could have been used for cooling. But they did not dare to use seawater for cooling because they thought the reactor would still be used in the future. In fact, the reactor had already been operating for 40 years and had reached the time for decommissioning, but they were still reluctant to decommission it.

In addition, our nuclear power technology is now in its third generation, and safety performance has been further improved. In the event of a nuclear accident, it will be confined within the plant site and within the reactor, which adds another safety lock to the development of nuclear energy. At present, sites where preliminary work for nuclear power plants has already been carried out inland include Taohuajiang in Hunan, Xianning in Hubei, and Pengze in Jiangxi. Wang Yiren stressed that of the more than 400 nuclear power plants in the world today, most are built inland where the impact of tsunamis and typhoons can basically be ignored, and only a small number are in coastal areas. Building nuclear power plants in coastal areas meets safety requirements, and the same is true inland.

Wang Yiren: The idea that building nuclear power plants in coastal areas is safe while building them inland is unsafe does not exist.

Wang Yiren said that with the acceleration of inland economic development, energy demand in inland areas is also constantly rising. At the same time, nuclear power has less environmental impact than thermal power, so the construction of inland nuclear power plants is imperative.

Some people worry that building nuclear power plants inland would require using water from the Yangtze River for cooling. Wang Yiren responded that this concept is wrong. Although coastal nuclear power plants use seawater circulation for cooling, inland areas use cooling towers.

Wang Yiren: When you go to a power plant, you see a very large cooling tower. The water there is recycled internally. It is not discharged into the Yangtze River at all, nor does it endlessly draw water from the Yangtze River.