Nuclear Safety Law of the People's Republic of China

Nuclear Safety Law of the People's Republic of China Order of the President of the People's Republic of China (No. 73) The Nuclear Safety Law of the People's Republic of China, as adopted at the 29th session of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on September 1, 2017, is hereby issued, and shall come into force on January 1, 2018. President of the People's Republic of China: Xi Jinping September 1, 2017 Nuclear Safety Law of the People's Republic of China (Adopted at the 29th session of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress on September 1, 2017) Contents Chapter I General Provisions Chapter II Safety of Nuclear Facilities Chapter III Safety of Nuclear Material and Radioactive Waste Chapter IV Nuclear Accident Emergency Chapter V Information Disclosure and Public Participation Chapter VI Supervision and Inspection Chapter VII Legal Liability Chapter VIII Supplementary Provisions Chapter I General Provisions Article 1 This Law is developed for purposes of guaranteeing nuclear safety, preventing and responding to nuclear accidents, safely using nuclear energy, protecting the safety and health of the general public and workers, protecting the eco-environment, and promoting sustainable economic and social development. Article 2 This Law applies to any activity, within the territory of the People's Republic of China and other sea areas under its jurisdiction, conducted to prevent nuclear accidents caused by technical reasons, human reasons or natural disasters and to minimize the radioactive consequences in the case of nuclear accidents, by taking adequate preventive, protective, mitigating, regulatory and other safety measures against nuclear facilities, nuclear material and other relevant radioactive waste. "Nuclear facility" means: (1) a nuclear electrical power plant, a nuclear thermal power plant, a nuclear steam and heat supply plant, and any other nuclear power plant or installation; (2) a research reactor, an experimental reactor, a critical assembly or any reactor other than a nuclear power plant; (3) a facility in which nuclear fuel is produced, processed, stored or reprocessed or any other nuclear fuel cycle facility; or (4) a processing, storage, or disposal facility for radioactive waste. "Nuclear material" means: (1) uranium-235 or any product thereof; (2) uranium-233 or any product thereof; (3) plutonium-239 or any product thereof; or (4) any other nuclear material required to be controlled according to laws and administrative regulations. "Radioactive waste" means waste that is generated from the operation or decommissioning of a nuclear facility, that contains, or is contaminated with, radionuclide at concentrations or specific activities greater than clearance levels as established by the state, and for which no further use is foreseen. Article 3 The state shall adhere to a rational, coordinated and updated nuclear safety concept, strengthen the building of nuclear safety capability and ensure the sound development of the nuclear cause. Article 4 Nuclear cause must be conducted in conformity with the policy of ensuring safety. Nuclear safety work must conform to the principle of safety first, focus on prevention, well-defined responsibilities, strict management, defence in depth, independent regulation, and comprehensive guarantees. Article 5 A nuclear facility operating entity shall be comprehensively responsible for nuclear safety. An entity which provides the nuclear facility operating entity with equipment, engineering or services, among others, shall assume corresponding responsibility for nuclear safety. Article 6 The nuclear safety supervision and administration department of the State Council shall be responsible for supervision and administration of nuclear safety. The nuclear industry department, the energy department and other relevant departments of the State Council shall be responsible for the work in respect of nuclear safety administration within the scope of their respective functions and responsibilities. The state shall establish a nuclear safety work coordination mechanism to coordinate, as a whole, the efforts of relevant departments to promote relevant work. Article 7 The nuclear safety supervision and administration department of the State Council shall prepare a national nuclear safety plan in conjunction with the relevant departments of the State Council and arrange for its implementation as approved by the State Council. Article 8 The state shall adhere to establishing a nuclear safety standard system at a high level and in a strict manner. The relevant departments of the State Council shall develop a nuclear safety standard according to the division of duties. The nuclear safety standard shall be compulsory. The nuclear safety standard shall be amended in good time based on economic and social development and scientific and technological progress. Article 9 The state shall develop nuclear safety policies and strengthen the building of nuclear safety culture. The nuclear safety supervision and administration department, the nuclear industry department and the energy department of the State Council shall establish a mechanism for fostering nuclear safety culture. A nuclear facility operating entity and the entities which provide it with equipment, engineering and services, among others, shall vigorously foster and build nuclear safety culture and integrate it into each part of production, operation, scientific research and management. Article 10 The state shall encourage and support the research, development and use of science and technology relating to nuclear safety, strengthen intellectual property right protection and pay attention to fostering nuclear safety talents. The relevant departments of the State Council shall arrange in relevant scientific research plans special research projects of key technologies relating to the safety of nuclear facilities and nuclear material and the monitoring and assessment of radiation environment and promote advanced, reliable nuclear safety technologies. A nuclear facility operating entity, entities which provide it with equipment, engineering and services, among others, and scientific research bodies and other entities relating to nuclear safety shall constantly develop advanced, reliable nuclear safety technologies and make full use of advanced scientific and technological achievements to raise the level of nuclear safety. The State Council, the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, and their relevant departments shall recognize and reward, according to relevant provisions, entities and individuals who have made major contributions to scientific and technological innovation. Article 11 No entity or individual may jeopardize the safety of nuclear facilities or nuclear material. A citizen, a legal person or any other organization shall be entitled to access to nuclear safety information in accordance with the law and, if suffering nuclear damage, have the right to claim compensation under the law. Article 12 The state shall strengthen the security of nuclear facilities and nuclear material. A nuclear facility operating entity shall establish and improve a security system, and take security measures to prevent the sabotage, damage and theft of the nuclear facility and nuclear material. Article 13 The state shall organize and conduct international exchange and cooperation relating to nuclear safety, improve the international nuclear safety cooperation mechanism, prevent and tackle nuclear terrorist threats, and perform the obligations specified by the international conventions China has entered into or acceded to. Chapter II Safety of Nuclear Facilities Article 14 The state shall develop overall plans for, undertake scientific demonstrations of and make reasonable distribution of the siting and construction of nuclear facilities. The state shall administer nuclear facilities by category according to the nature, risk degree and other factors of the nuclear facilities. Article 15 A nuclear facility operating entity shall be capable to ensure the safe operation of the nuclear facility and meet the following conditions: (1) Having an organization management system and quality assurance, safety management, job responsibility and other rules satisfying the requirements of nuclear safety. (2) Having eligible professionals and managers the number of whom satisfies the requirements. (3) Having the capability of safety assessment, resource allocation and finance commensurate with the safety of nuclear facilities. (4) Having necessary capability to support and constantly improve nuclear safety technologies. (5) Having the capability of emergency response and of financial guarantees for compensation for nuclear damage. (6) Other conditions provided for by the laws and administrative regulations. Article 16 A nuclear facility operating entity shall establish a nuclear facility defence in depth system according to the requirements of the laws, administrative regulations and standards to effectively prevent threats arising out of technical reasons, human causes and natural disasters and to ensure the safety of the nuclear facility. A nuclear facility operating entity shall periodically assess the safety of the nuclear facility and accept the review of the nuclear safety supervision and administration department of the State Council. Article 17 A nuclear facility operating entity and entities which provide it with equipment, engineering and services, among others, shall establish and implement a quality assurance system to effectively ensure the quality of equipment, engineering and services, among others, and guarantee that equipment performance meets the requirements of nuclear safety standards and that the engineering and services, among others, conform to the requirements regarding nuclear safety. Article 18 A nuclear facility operating entity shall strictly control radiation exposure and ensure that relevant personnel is not exposed to radiation exceeding the dose limit specified by the state and that radiation exposure maintains at a level as low as reasonably achievable. Article 19 A nuclear facility operating entity shall monitor the type and concentration of the radionuclide in the environment surrounding the nuclear facility and the total amount of radionuclide in the effluents of the nuclear facility and regularly report the monitoring results to the environmental protection department of the State Council and the environmental protection department of the people's government of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government where it is located. Article 20 A nuclear facility operating entity shall, according to the relevant provisions issued by the state, develop training plans, provide workers with nuclear safety education and skill training, and conduct appraisal. The nuclear facility operating entity shall provide workers with appropriate labor protective supplies and occupational checkups to ensure their safety and health. Article 21 The people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall protect the sites of nuclear power plants and other major nuclear facilities determined in national plans and make no modifications to the use of the sites before the expiry of the plans. The people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall delimit restricted areas surrounding nuclear power plants and other major nuclear facilities and implement the delimitation with the consent of the nuclear safety supervision and administration department of the State Council. It is prohibited to build a facility producing or storing flammable, explosive or corrosive materials which might threaten the safety of a nuclear facility, or a populous venue within the planned restricted area. Article 22 The state shall develop a nuclear facility safety licensing system. A nuclear facility operating entity that conducts such activities as siting, construction, operation and decommissioning of a nuclear facility shall apply for licensing to the nuclear safety supervision and administration department of the State Council. A nuclear facility operating entity that requests modification of the conditions set forth in the licensing document shall obtain the approval of the nuclear safety supervision and administration department of the State Council. Article 23 A nuclear facility operating entity shall make scientific assessment of geology, earthquake, weather, hydrology, environment, population distribution and other factors, submit a nuclear facility site safety analysis report to the nuclear safety supervision and administration department of the State Council on the premise of conforming to the requirements of nuclear safety technical appraisal, and obtain the nuclear facility site selection review opinions after the review finds it conform to the requirements for nuclear safety. Article 24 A nuclear facility shall be designed in conformity with nuclear safety standards, to have scientific, reasonable structures, systems, equipment parameters and technical requirements, and to be provided with diverse protection and multiple barriers so as to ensure its reliable and stable operation and easy operation as well as the satisfaction with nuclear safety requirements. Article 25 Before the construction of a nuclear facility, the nuclear facility operating entity shall apply for construction to the nuclear safety supervision and administration department of the State Council and submit the following documents: (1) An application for nuclear facility construction. (2) A preliminary safety analysis report. (3) An environmental impact assessment report. (4) Quality assurance documents. (5) Other documents required by the laws and administrative regulations. Article 26 A nuclear facility operating entity shall ensure upon obtaining the nuclear facility construction license that the overall performance of the nuclear facility meets the requirements of the nuclear safety standards. The validity period of a nuclear facility construction license shall not exceed ten years. Where the validity period needs to be extended for construction upon its expiry, the extension shall be subject to the review and approval of the nuclear safety supervision and administration department of the State Council, however, except under any of the following circumstances and unless assessment finds no safety risk: (1) The extension results from national policy or action. (2) A nuclear facility used for scientific research. (3) A nuclear facility used for engineering demonstration. (4) A nuclear facility used for reprocessing of spent fuel. A nuclear facility shall undergo commissioning upon completion of its construction to verify whether it conforms to the designed nuclear safety requirements. Article 27 Before the initial fuel loading of a nuclear facility, the nuclear facility operating entity shall apply for operation to the nuclear safety supervision and administration department of the State Council and submit the following documents: (1) An application for nuclear facility operation. (2) A final safety analysis report. (3) Quality assurance documents. (4) An emergency plan. (5) Other documents required by the laws and administrative regulations. A nuclear facility operating entity shall operate according to the nuclear facility operation license upon obtaining the license. The validity period of a nuclear facility operation license shall be the designed lifetime. The nuclear safety supervision and administration department of the State Council may, before the expiry of the validity period, reasonably adjust the matters specified in the license according to the laws, administrative regulations and the requirements of new nuclear safety standards. A nuclear facility operating entity that adjusts the following matters shall obtain the approval of the nuclear safety supervision and administration department of the State Council: (1) Any major structure, system or equipment which is the basis to issue the operation license. (2) Operational limits or conditions. (3) Procedures or other documents with regard to nuclear safety as approved by the nuclear safety supervision and administration department of the State Council. Article 28 Where operation needs to continue upon the expiry of the validity period of the nuclear facility operation license, the nuclear facility operating entity shall file an application for extension with the nuclear safety supervision and administration department of the State Council five years before the expiry of the validity period and demonstrate and verify its conformity with the nuclear safety standards, and may continue the operation only after being subject to review and obtaining approval. Article 29 When a nuclear facility ceases to operate, the nuclear facility operating entity shall manage the shutdown by safe means to ensure safety during the shutdown and guarantee the basic functions, technical personnel and documents required by decommissioning. Article 30 Before a nuclear facility is decommissioned, the nuclear facility operating entity shall apply for decommissioning to the nuclear safety supervision and administration department of the State Council and submit the following documents: (1) An application for the decommissioning of the nuclear facility. (2) A safety analysis report. (3) An environmental impact assessment report. (4) Quality assurance documents. (5) Other documents required by the laws and administrative regulations. At the decommissioning of a nuclear facility, the nuclear facility operating entity shall process and dispose of the radioactive substances at the site of the nuclear facility under the principle of as low as reasonably achievable and lower the radioactive level of structures, systems and equipment to that required by the standards. Upon the decommissioning of a nuclear facility, the environmental protection department of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government where the nuclear facility is located shall organize the monitoring of the type and concentration of radionuclide at the site of the nucle......