China is actively employing its nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. The nuclear technology, which used to be thought of as very mystic in the past, is insensibly infiltrating into every field of the national economy and the life of people.
Since the Qinshan Nuclear Power Station, the first of its kind designed and constructed by China herself, began to generate electricity in 1991, China has so far seen two more nuclear power stations well and safely in operation. And still another four projects of such stations launched during the 1996-2000 period were under construction and will be put into operation from 2002 to 2005. The Chashma Nuclear Power Station in Pakistan, the largest nuclear project exported from China, went through the provisional test on September 26, 2000 and has now been brought to its full power operation.
In the 1990s, with the application of isotope and radiation technology for commercial purposes, great achievements have been made in agriculture, industry, medicine and other fields. A batch of new varieties of agricultural produce, diagnostic and treatment instruments have come into being one in succession of the other and are now being applied in the daily life of the people.
In recent years, Tsinghua University together with some other units has successfully developed the large container detecting system by using the nuclear technology. The system is now being installed for customs. This high-tech product developed on the basis of nuclear technology has not only opened up an industry of a sizable and perspective market but also laid a cornerstone for China to build an anti-smuggling barrier.
Not long ago, the Chinese scientists also brought up a new idea for the desalination of seawater by using nuclear energy. Based on the idea, the cost for seawater desalination will be greatly reduced. This is another new path for peaceful use of nuclear energy.
(People's Daily 11/09/2000)
