Nuclear Safety Law of the People's Republic of China
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
September 1, 2017
The Nuclear Safety Law of the People's Republic of China, adopted at the 29th Session of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress on September 1, 2017, is hereby promulgated, effective from January 1, 2018.
Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China
Nuclear Safety Law of the People's Republic of China
(Adopted at the 29th Session of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress on September 1, 2017)
Contents
Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Safety of Nuclear Facilities
Chapter III Safety of Nuclear Materials and Radioactive Wastes
Chapter IV Emergency Responses to Nuclear Accidents
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 The Law is formulated to safeguard the safety of nuclear energy, prevent and respond to nuclear accidents, use nuclear energy in a safe manner, protect the safety and health of the public and practitioners, protect the ecological environment, and promote sustainable economic and social development.
Article 2 The Law shall apply to the activity of taking sufficient preventive, protective, mitigation and supervisory measures and other safety measures for nuclear facilities, nuclear materials and the relevant radioactive wastes within the territory of the People's Republic of China and other sea areas under China's jurisdiction to prevent the occurrence of any nuclear accident resulting from technical matters, man-made reasons or natural disasters, and minimize radiological consequences in the case of a nuclear accident.
Nuclear facilities refer to:
1. nuclear power plants, including nuclear plants, nuclear heat power plants and nuclear gas or heat supply plants, and nuclear power units;
2. reactors other than nuclear power plants, including research reactors, experimental reactors and critical assemblies;
3. facilities for the cycling of nuclear fuels, including facilities used to produce, process, store, and post-process nuclear fuels; and
4. facilities used to treat, store and dispose of radioactive wastes.
Nuclear materials refer to:
1. uranium-235 and products made from it;
2. uranium-233 and products made from it;
3. plutonium-239 and products made from it;
4. other types of nuclear materials that need to be controlled as required by laws and administrative regulations.
Radioactive wastes refer to the wastes that are generated due to the operation and decommissioning of nuclear facilities, contain radionuclide or are contaminated by radionuclide, have a concentration or specific activity higher than the clearance level determined by the State, and are expected not to be used any longer.
Article 3 The State pursues a rational, coordinated and progressive outlook on nuclear safety, pushes for the building of the capacity for nuclear safety, and safeguards the healthy development of the nuclear undertaking.
Article 4 The nuclear undertaking must be developed pursuant to the principle of safety.
Nuclear safety work must be subject to the principles of safety first, prevention first, definite responsibilities, strict administration, defense in depth, independent regulation and comprehensive safeguards.
Article 5 Operators of nuclear facilities shall take overall responsibility for nuclear safety.
The entities that provide equipment, engineering and services for operators of nuclear facilities shall bear the corresponding responsibility.
Article 6 The regulatory department for nuclear safety under the State Council shall be responsible for the supervision and administration of nuclear safety.
The competent department of the nuclear industry, the competent energy department and other relevant departments under the State Council shall be in charge of the relevant administrative work concerning nuclear safety according to their respective responsibilities.
The State has established a coordination mechanism for nuclear safety work to coordinate relevant departments for advancing related work in an overall manner.
Article 7 The regulatory department for nuclear safety under the State Council shall, in concert with the relevant departments under the State Council, formulate a national plan for nuclear safety and organize its implementation upon approval by the State Council.
Article 8 The State insists on establishing a high-standard and strict nuclear safety standard system.
The relevant departments under the State Council shall, according to their respective functions and responsibilities, formulate nuclear safety standards. Nuclear safety standards shall be mandatory standards.
Nuclear safety standards shall be revised in due time in light of the economic and social development and scientific and technological progress.
Article 9 The State shall formulate nuclear safety policies to enhance the construction of a nuclear safety culture.
The regulatory department for nuclear safety, the competent department of the nuclear industry and the competent energy department under the State Council shall build a mechanism for nurturing the nuclear safety culture.
Operators of nuclear facilities and entities providing them with equipment, engineering and services shall actively create and promote the nuclear safety culture to integrate the nuclear safety culture into all respects of their production, operation, scientific research and management.
Article 10 The State encourages and supports the research, development and utilization of sciences and technologies concerning nuclear safety, enhances the protection of intellectual property rights, and pays attention to training nuclear safety talents.
The relevant departments under the State Council shall arrange for special key technical research projects that relate to the safety of nuclear facilities and nuclear materials and to the monitoring and assessment of the radiation environment, while planning the relevant scientific research, and popularize advanced and reliable nuclear safety technologies.
Entities such as operators of nuclear facilities, entities providing them with equipment, engineering and services, and scientific research institutions related to nuclear safety shall keep developing advanced and reliable nuclear safety technologies, make full use of advanced scientific and technological achievements, and improve the level of nuclear safety.
The State Council, people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government as well as the relevant departments thereof shall, in accordance with the relevant provisions, commend and award any entities or individuals that have made important contributions to scientific and technological innovations.
Article 11 No entity or individual shall jeopardize the safety of nuclear facilities or nuclear materials.
Any citizen, legal person or other organization enjoys the right to access information about nuclear safety in accordance with the law, and has the right to claim compensation after suffering nuclear damage according to the law.
Article 12 The State shall redouble its efforts to safeguard the safety of nuclear facilities and nuclear materials.
Operators of nuclear facilities shall establish and improve a security safeguard system and take safeguard measures to protect nuclear facilities and nuclear materials from any destruction, damage or theft.
Article 13 The State shall organize and carry out international communication and cooperation on nuclear safety, improve the mechanism for international cooperation in nuclear safety, prevent and respond to any threat of nuclear terrorism, and perform obligations under the international conventions concluded or acceded to by the People's Republic of China.
Chapter II Safety of Nuclear Facilities
Article 14 The State shall design plans on the selection and construction of nuclear facilities as a whole based on the scientific rationale, in order to make the layout reasonable in this regard.
The State shall exercise classified administration of nuclear facilities in accordance with the nature, risk levels and other factors of nuclear facilities.
Article 15 An operator of nuclear facilities shall be capable of safeguarding the safe operation of nuclear facilities, and meet the following conditions:
1. have an organization and management system and other regimes on quality assurance, safety management and post responsibilities that meet the requirements for nuclear safety;
2. employ a prescribed number of qualified professional technicians and management staff;
3. possess security assessment, resource allocation and financial capacity that are compatible with the safety of nuclear facilities;
4. have access to necessary technical support for nuclear safety and be capable of making improvement continuously;
5. possess the capacity to respond to emergencies and the financial capacity to guarantee compensation for nuclear damage; and
6. other conditions as prescribed by laws and administrative regulations.
Article 16 Operators of nuclear facilities shall, in accordance with the laws, administrative regulations and standards, set up an in-depth defense framework for nuclear facilities, and effectively guard against threats caused by any technical matters, man-made reasons or natural disasters, so as to ensure the safety of nuclear facilities.
Operators of nuclear facilities shall evaluate the safety of nuclear facilities on a regular basis and be subject to the review of the regulatory department for nuclear safety under the State Council.
Article 17 Operators of nuclear facilities and entities providing them with equipment, engineering and services shall establish and implement a quality assurance system and effectively guarantee the quality of equipment, engineering and services, ensuring that the performance of such equipment meets the nuclear safety standards and such engineering and services meet the relevant requirements on nuclear safety.
Article 18 Operators of nuclear facilities shall strictly control exposure to radiation to ensure the protection of relevant personnel from being exposed to radiation that exceeds the upper dose limit set by the State and ensure that radiation exposure is maintained at a reasonable and practicable level and as low as possible.
Article 19 An operator of nuclear facilities shall monitor the type and concentration of radionuclides in the environment around nuclear facilities and the total amount of radionuclides in effluent from nuclear facilities, and regularly report the monitoring results to the competent departments of environmental protection under the State Council and under the people's government of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government where it is located.
Article 20 Operators of nuclear facilities shall, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the State, formulate a training plan and carry out education and skills training with regard to nuclear safety for their practitioners.
They shall also provide their practitioners with access to necessary labor protection and occupational health checks, in order to ensure the safety and good health of their practitioners.
Article 21 People's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall protect the sites identified in the State planning to be used for building important nuclear facilities such as nuclear power plants, but shall not change their purpose of use within the planning period.
People's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall delimit the planned restricted areas around important nuclear facilities, such as nuclear power plants, and enable such restriction to take effect upon approval of the regulatory department for nuclear safety under the State Council.
It shall be prohibited to construct any facility for the production or storage of flammable, explosive and corrosive materials or any densely-populated place, which may threaten the safety of nuclear facilities, within such planned restricted areas.
Article 22 The State has established a licensing system for the safety of nuclear facilities.
To select a site for a nuclear facility or construct, operate or decommission a nuclear facility, an operator of nuclear facilities shall apply for a license to the regulatory department for nuclear safety under the State Council.
The request proposed by an operator of nuclear facilities to change the conditions prescribed in the licensing documents shall be reported to and approved by the regulatory department for nuclear safety under the State Council.
Article 23 An operator of nuclear facilities shall conduct a scientific evaluation regarding such factors as geology, earthquake, meteorology, hydrology, environment and population distribution; if the technical evaluation requirements on nuclear safety have been satisfied, such operator may submit the safety analysis report on a site selected for nuclear facilities to the regulatory department for nuclear safety under the State Council which will then review such report and issue opinions on the review of such site selected for nuclear facilities provided that such report conforms to the requirements on nuclear safety.
Article 24 The design of nuclear facilities shall meet the nuclear safety standards, be made through scientific and appropriate structures, systems, equipment parameters and technical requirements, and provide diversified protections and multiple shields, in order to guarantee the reliable and stable operation of nuclear facilities, make them easy to operate and ensure their conformity with the requirements on nuclear safety.
Article 25 Prior to the construction of a nuclear facility, the operator of such nuclear facility shall file an application for construction with the regulatory department for nuclear safety under the State Council by submitting the following materials:
1.
......
Order of the President of the People's Republic of China No. 73
September 1, 2017
The Nuclear Safety Law of the People's Republic of China, adopted at the 29th Session of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress on September 1, 2017, is hereby promulgated, effective from January 1, 2018.
Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China
Nuclear Safety Law of the People's Republic of China
(Adopted at the 29th Session of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress on September 1, 2017)
Contents
Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Safety of Nuclear Facilities
Chapter III Safety of Nuclear Materials and Radioactive Wastes
Chapter IV Emergency Responses to Nuclear Accidents
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 The Law is formulated to safeguard the safety of nuclear energy, prevent and respond to nuclear accidents, use nuclear energy in a safe manner, protect the safety and health of the public and practitioners, protect the ecological environment, and promote sustainable economic and social development.
Article 2 The Law shall apply to the activity of taking sufficient preventive, protective, mitigation and supervisory measures and other safety measures for nuclear facilities, nuclear materials and the relevant radioactive wastes within the territory of the People's Republic of China and other sea areas under China's jurisdiction to prevent the occurrence of any nuclear accident resulting from technical matters, man-made reasons or natural disasters, and minimize radiological consequences in the case of a nuclear accident.
Nuclear facilities refer to:
1. nuclear power plants, including nuclear plants, nuclear heat power plants and nuclear gas or heat supply plants, and nuclear power units;
2. reactors other than nuclear power plants, including research reactors, experimental reactors and critical assemblies;
3. facilities for the cycling of nuclear fuels, including facilities used to produce, process, store, and post-process nuclear fuels; and
4. facilities used to treat, store and dispose of radioactive wastes.
Nuclear materials refer to:
1. uranium-235 and products made from it;
2. uranium-233 and products made from it;
3. plutonium-239 and products made from it;
4. other types of nuclear materials that need to be controlled as required by laws and administrative regulations.
Radioactive wastes refer to the wastes that are generated due to the operation and decommissioning of nuclear facilities, contain radionuclide or are contaminated by radionuclide, have a concentration or specific activity higher than the clearance level determined by the State, and are expected not to be used any longer.
Article 3 The State pursues a rational, coordinated and progressive outlook on nuclear safety, pushes for the building of the capacity for nuclear safety, and safeguards the healthy development of the nuclear undertaking.
Article 4 The nuclear undertaking must be developed pursuant to the principle of safety.
Nuclear safety work must be subject to the principles of safety first, prevention first, definite responsibilities, strict administration, defense in depth, independent regulation and comprehensive safeguards.
Article 5 Operators of nuclear facilities shall take overall responsibility for nuclear safety.
The entities that provide equipment, engineering and services for operators of nuclear facilities shall bear the corresponding responsibility.
Article 6 The regulatory department for nuclear safety under the State Council shall be responsible for the supervision and administration of nuclear safety.
The competent department of the nuclear industry, the competent energy department and other relevant departments under the State Council shall be in charge of the relevant administrative work concerning nuclear safety according to their respective responsibilities.
The State has established a coordination mechanism for nuclear safety work to coordinate relevant departments for advancing related work in an overall manner.
Article 7 The regulatory department for nuclear safety under the State Council shall, in concert with the relevant departments under the State Council, formulate a national plan for nuclear safety and organize its implementation upon approval by the State Council.
Article 8 The State insists on establishing a high-standard and strict nuclear safety standard system.
The relevant departments under the State Council shall, according to their respective functions and responsibilities, formulate nuclear safety standards. Nuclear safety standards shall be mandatory standards.
Nuclear safety standards shall be revised in due time in light of the economic and social development and scientific and technological progress.
Article 9 The State shall formulate nuclear safety policies to enhance the construction of a nuclear safety culture.
The regulatory department for nuclear safety, the competent department of the nuclear industry and the competent energy department under the State Council shall build a mechanism for nurturing the nuclear safety culture.
Operators of nuclear facilities and entities providing them with equipment, engineering and services shall actively create and promote the nuclear safety culture to integrate the nuclear safety culture into all respects of their production, operation, scientific research and management.
Article 10 The State encourages and supports the research, development and utilization of sciences and technologies concerning nuclear safety, enhances the protection of intellectual property rights, and pays attention to training nuclear safety talents.
The relevant departments under the State Council shall arrange for special key technical research projects that relate to the safety of nuclear facilities and nuclear materials and to the monitoring and assessment of the radiation environment, while planning the relevant scientific research, and popularize advanced and reliable nuclear safety technologies.
Entities such as operators of nuclear facilities, entities providing them with equipment, engineering and services, and scientific research institutions related to nuclear safety shall keep developing advanced and reliable nuclear safety technologies, make full use of advanced scientific and technological achievements, and improve the level of nuclear safety.
The State Council, people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government as well as the relevant departments thereof shall, in accordance with the relevant provisions, commend and award any entities or individuals that have made important contributions to scientific and technological innovations.
Article 11 No entity or individual shall jeopardize the safety of nuclear facilities or nuclear materials.
Any citizen, legal person or other organization enjoys the right to access information about nuclear safety in accordance with the law, and has the right to claim compensation after suffering nuclear damage according to the law.
Article 12 The State shall redouble its efforts to safeguard the safety of nuclear facilities and nuclear materials.
Operators of nuclear facilities shall establish and improve a security safeguard system and take safeguard measures to protect nuclear facilities and nuclear materials from any destruction, damage or theft.
Article 13 The State shall organize and carry out international communication and cooperation on nuclear safety, improve the mechanism for international cooperation in nuclear safety, prevent and respond to any threat of nuclear terrorism, and perform obligations under the international conventions concluded or acceded to by the People's Republic of China.
Chapter II Safety of Nuclear Facilities
Article 14 The State shall design plans on the selection and construction of nuclear facilities as a whole based on the scientific rationale, in order to make the layout reasonable in this regard.
The State shall exercise classified administration of nuclear facilities in accordance with the nature, risk levels and other factors of nuclear facilities.
Article 15 An operator of nuclear facilities shall be capable of safeguarding the safe operation of nuclear facilities, and meet the following conditions:
1. have an organization and management system and other regimes on quality assurance, safety management and post responsibilities that meet the requirements for nuclear safety;
2. employ a prescribed number of qualified professional technicians and management staff;
3. possess security assessment, resource allocation and financial capacity that are compatible with the safety of nuclear facilities;
4. have access to necessary technical support for nuclear safety and be capable of making improvement continuously;
5. possess the capacity to respond to emergencies and the financial capacity to guarantee compensation for nuclear damage; and
6. other conditions as prescribed by laws and administrative regulations.
Article 16 Operators of nuclear facilities shall, in accordance with the laws, administrative regulations and standards, set up an in-depth defense framework for nuclear facilities, and effectively guard against threats caused by any technical matters, man-made reasons or natural disasters, so as to ensure the safety of nuclear facilities.
Operators of nuclear facilities shall evaluate the safety of nuclear facilities on a regular basis and be subject to the review of the regulatory department for nuclear safety under the State Council.
Article 17 Operators of nuclear facilities and entities providing them with equipment, engineering and services shall establish and implement a quality assurance system and effectively guarantee the quality of equipment, engineering and services, ensuring that the performance of such equipment meets the nuclear safety standards and such engineering and services meet the relevant requirements on nuclear safety.
Article 18 Operators of nuclear facilities shall strictly control exposure to radiation to ensure the protection of relevant personnel from being exposed to radiation that exceeds the upper dose limit set by the State and ensure that radiation exposure is maintained at a reasonable and practicable level and as low as possible.
Article 19 An operator of nuclear facilities shall monitor the type and concentration of radionuclides in the environment around nuclear facilities and the total amount of radionuclides in effluent from nuclear facilities, and regularly report the monitoring results to the competent departments of environmental protection under the State Council and under the people's government of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government where it is located.
Article 20 Operators of nuclear facilities shall, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the State, formulate a training plan and carry out education and skills training with regard to nuclear safety for their practitioners.
They shall also provide their practitioners with access to necessary labor protection and occupational health checks, in order to ensure the safety and good health of their practitioners.
Article 21 People's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall protect the sites identified in the State planning to be used for building important nuclear facilities such as nuclear power plants, but shall not change their purpose of use within the planning period.
People's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall delimit the planned restricted areas around important nuclear facilities, such as nuclear power plants, and enable such restriction to take effect upon approval of the regulatory department for nuclear safety under the State Council.
It shall be prohibited to construct any facility for the production or storage of flammable, explosive and corrosive materials or any densely-populated place, which may threaten the safety of nuclear facilities, within such planned restricted areas.
Article 22 The State has established a licensing system for the safety of nuclear facilities.
To select a site for a nuclear facility or construct, operate or decommission a nuclear facility, an operator of nuclear facilities shall apply for a license to the regulatory department for nuclear safety under the State Council.
The request proposed by an operator of nuclear facilities to change the conditions prescribed in the licensing documents shall be reported to and approved by the regulatory department for nuclear safety under the State Council.
Article 23 An operator of nuclear facilities shall conduct a scientific evaluation regarding such factors as geology, earthquake, meteorology, hydrology, environment and population distribution; if the technical evaluation requirements on nuclear safety have been satisfied, such operator may submit the safety analysis report on a site selected for nuclear facilities to the regulatory department for nuclear safety under the State Council which will then review such report and issue opinions on the review of such site selected for nuclear facilities provided that such report conforms to the requirements on nuclear safety.
Article 24 The design of nuclear facilities shall meet the nuclear safety standards, be made through scientific and appropriate structures, systems, equipment parameters and technical requirements, and provide diversified protections and multiple shields, in order to guarantee the reliable and stable operation of nuclear facilities, make them easy to operate and ensure their conformity with the requirements on nuclear safety.
Article 25 Prior to the construction of a nuclear facility, the operator of such nuclear facility shall file an application for construction with the regulatory department for nuclear safety under the State Council by submitting the following materials:
1.
......