A CHINESE city has suspended preliminary work on a proposed 100 billion yuan (US$15 billion) nuclear waste processing plant following protests by local residents concerned about health risks.

    Reports that Lianyungang, a city about 500 km north of Shanghai, was set to be chosen as the site for the project due to start construction in 2020 sparked protests that began at the weekend.

    The project, to be run by the State-owned China National Nuclear Corporation in collaboration with France’s Areva, is scheduled to be completed by 2030.

    “The Lianyungang government has decided to suspend site selection and preliminary work on the nuclear recycling project,” the local government said in a notice posted on its website.

    Lianyungang in Jiangsu Province is the location of the Tianwan nuclear project, which currently consists of two Russian-designed reactors. Two more units are now under construction and there are plans to expand further.

    China has ambitions to be a world leader in nuclear power. It had 30 reactors in commercial operation by the end of June this year, amounting to 28 gigawatts of capacity. It is aiming to raise that to 58 GW by the end of 2020. However, it is struggling to resolve bottlenecks in the industry, including fuel processing, waste recycling, grid access and a shortage of qualified staff.

    The closed fuel-cycle technology being used for the proposed waste project would be similar to that used at a plant at Rokkasho in Japan, which has already been plagued by delays and cost overruns.(SD-Agencies)