China Wants To Assuage Opinion About ‘Misuse’ Of Its N-Technology

[KashifAsrar]

China Wants To Assuage Opinion About ‘Misuse’ Of Its N-Technology


Saibal Dasgupta | TNN



Beijing: China has now thrown some light on a “nuclear mystery” during its president Hu Jintao’s recent visit to Pakistan. Hu surprised China watchers the world over by not signing a widely expected deal to provide Pakistan with technological support to build four more nuclear power stations.
China’s state council has released revised regulations on nuclear exports in order to prevent nuclear proliferation and guard against nuclear terrorism. The new regulations require importing countries to guarantee that they would seek consent from Beijing before using Chinese equipment to enrich uranium to a level above 20%. Though China has not specifically explained why it has not gone ahead with the expected deal with Pakistan, it is clear that Beijing wanted the new regulations in place before extending support to Pakistan’s nuclear programme, sources said.
China has also announced plans to develop an additional capacity of 6,000 megawatts of nuclear power in its Fujian province. It also signed an agreement with the French government on nuclear cooperation.
The new regulations are obviously meant to assuage world opinion about the possible misuse of Chinese nuclear technology by importing governments and possible leakage of the technology to terrorists groups. Beijing did not wish to rush ahead with a new deal with Pakistan on sale of nuclear technology until the new regulation was in place, informed sources said.
“There has been a widely held belief that China would help Pakistan to expand nuclear power capabilities in a big way. It is a mystery why Hu Jintao did not sign such a deal during his recent visit to that country,” Maj Gen Dipankar Banerjee, director at the Delhi-based Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, told this reporter recently.
The announcement of the new regulations coincides with a spate of moves by China on the nuclear front. Chinese vicepremier Zeng Peiyan on Sunday signed an agreement with the French presidential special envoy Thierry Breton Breton in which the French government pledged to “take practical steps to boost nuclear power cooperation with China”. The agreement has been signed with five weeks of the Chinese decision to buy 170 Airbus planes from the French aircraft maker during the recent visit of French president Jacques Chirac to Beijing. China has been using French nuclear power technology in its Daya Bay and Ling nuclear power plants in southern Guangdong province.
China on Saturday announced that it super-efficient fast nuclear reactor will go on trial in May 2010. Kang Rixin, general manager of China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), said that the reactor is expected to burn 60-70% of its uranium fuel while a conventional reactor consumes only 0.7% of the uranium it is fed.
At another level, the CNNC signed an agreement with the Beijing based CNNC, one of China’s top five power producers to build six reactors in east Fujian province. The idea is to develop as many as six 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactors in Fuqing in the province.

 

[Srirangan]

China is sounding like the US Congress.. eheh