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)