China's top legislature will this week review a draft law on the
prevention and control of radioactive pollution to better safeguard
public health and promote the development and peaceful use of
nuclear power.
The draft legislation was submitted to the ongoing bimonthly
session of the Standing Committee of the National People's
Congress for a first reading Tuesday.
Nuclear power and technology have been widely used in China and
played a positive role in the country's medical, power, national
defense, industrial, agricultural and scientific research fields
since the 1950s.
In
the process, China has paid increased attention to safely
developing and using nuclear power and technology and preventing
radioactive pollution.
The draft demands governments above the county level incorporate
preventions and controls for radioactive pollution into their
environmental protection plans.
It
states that all people and institutions have the duty to protect
the environment and the right to notify the relative authorities of
any activities that might lead to radioactive pollution.
"We have given top priorities in this draft to safety, strict
management and preventive efforts in checking radioactive
pollution," State
Environmental Protection Administration Minister Xie Zhenhua
said when submitting the draft law to the session.
Xie's administration, the nation's top environmental protection
watchdog, has undertaken much of the work in devising the
draft.
Both the legislative body and the State Council are eligible to
write draft legislation, but a draft must win parliamentary
approval before it becomes law, according to the Legislative
Procedure Law.
The radioactive pollution draft law has to undergo another two
rounds of parliamentary debate before it is put to a vote.
The draft law has drawn on the nation's experience in the past five
decades in preventing and controlling radioactive pollution as well
as local legislation.
The congress of East China's Zhejiang Province, where the Qinshan
Nuclear Power Plant is located, last week passed the country's
first local legislation regulating radiation emissions from nuclear
power plants.
The plant, China's first, has three reactors in operation, with two
more expected to begin operation soon.
Qinshan has maintained an excellent safety record for the past 11
years and another key plant is under construction in the province's
south.
Local lawmakers in South China's Guangdong Province enacted a local
legislation on measures to prevent and deal with a nuclear accident
at the end of 1997. Guangdong has two nuclear power plants, Dayawan
and Ling'ao.
Also Tuesday, the State Council submitted draft laws on the
ordinance on customs bearings and ports to the top legislature for
its first reading.
The draft on ports was devised to rationalize the layout of the
country's 1,467 commercial harbors, standardize port operations and
streamline competition among port management, track and tackle
problems associated with port safety and enhance the
competitiveness of Chinese ports in the international arena.
(China Daily December 25, 2002)