Nuclear facilities in China that were jolted by a massive earthquake have been confirmed to be safe, an environmental safety official said on Sunday.
China’s nuclear safety agency ordered staffers to be on standby in case of an environmental emergency following last week’s magnitude 7.9 quake that rocked Sichuan province, home of several key atomic sites.
Those facilities are safe and under control, said a man at the ministry of environmental protection’s nuclear safety department who only gave his surname, Mr Li.He was confirming a report by the government’s Xinhua News Agency, which issued a one-line statement citing unidenti fied government officials.
China has a research reactor, two nuclear fuel production sites and two atomic weapons sites in Sichuan, according to the French nuclear watchdog.All were 60 to 145 km from the epicentre.
Beijing had not publicly announced any damage to nuclear sites, although the French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety said China reported “light damage” to unspecified nuclear facilities that were being dismantled before the quake.
Mr Thierry Charles, the group’s director of plant safety, said Chinese authorities immediately shut down nuclear sites for inspection. There were no reported leaks of radioactivity, he said.