Mr. Chair,

The Chinese delegation has carefully studied the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Report contained in GOV/2022/35 and would like to align itself with the statement made by the distinguished Ambassador of Morocco on behalf of the "Group of 77 and China" under this item. 

Mr. Chair, 

The Chinese delegation notes with satisfaction that in the past year, despite the COVID-19, the Agency has successfully organized a number of important international conferences such as  the Seventh Review Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, published or revised a number of safety guidelines, continued to improve the system of nuclear safety standards and guidelines, and actively organized various activities in nuclear, radiation, transport and waste safety and emergency preparedness and response.The Agency  has been actively organizing various activities in nuclear, radiation, transport and waste safety, and emergency preparedness and response, providing peer review and advisory services to Member States and integrated the regulatory and industrial tracks by proposing the NHSI, thus making active contributions to the maintenance and enhancement of global nuclear safety.

Mr. Chair,

China attaches great importance to nuclear safety and has been practicing a rational, coordinated and balanced view of nuclear safety, continuously improving its national nuclear safety system, promulgating the Nuclear Safety Law, issuing the Medium- and Long-term Development Plan for Nuclear Safety and the Policy Statement on Nuclear Safety Culture, continuously strengthening nuclear safety capacity building and comprehensively upgrading nuclear safety. Under effective safety supervision, China's nuclear power units and research reactor facilities in operation have continued to maintain good safety performance. No level 1 or above nuclear and radiation incident or accident has occurred since last year. The radiation quality around nuclear facilities have always been kept at normal level, and the operation of NPPs and research reactors have not posed any adverse effect on the public and the environment. The overall ranking of similar units by the World Association of Nuclear Operators shows that, 80% of the operating indicators of China's nuclear power units are above the median level, more than 70% of the indicators are above the world's advanced value, which gave China a word’s leading position in the level of operational safety. The quality of the NPPs under construction is under control and capacity-building for nuclear emergency preparedness has been continuously strengthened. Last year, CAEA successfully organized a joint exercise and evaluation of the national level nuclear accident emergency preparedness, "SHIELD-2021".

Mr. Chair.

China has actively promoted the strengthening of international cooperation in the field of nuclear safety and has acceded to all international conventions in the field of nuclear safety and earnestly carried out implementation activities. China supports the Agency's central role in international cooperation on nuclear safety and actively participates in the Agency's initiative in the field of nuclear safety. We take part in technical working groups, peer reviews and advisory services, actively participate in nuclear emergency exercises at all levels organized by the Agency and continue to assist developing countries in nuclear safety personnel training, technical exercises and other activities, and share China's experience and best practices in nuclear safety regulation. We will continue to assist developing countries in training nuclear safety personnel, conducting technical exercises, and sharing China's experience and best practices in nuclear safety regulation. From July 27th to August 15th, 2022, a Seminar on nuclear safety regulation and technical capacity for Pakistan, hosted by the Ministry of Commerce of China and co-organized by the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, was a success. Experts from China and Pakistan in the field of nuclear safety regulation and control have fully communicated and exchanged views on nuclear safety policies and regulations, nuclear safety culture, and safety technology review of nuclear power projects and good results were achieved. China stands ready to further strengthen the practical cooperation with the Agency and other countries in the fields of nuclear and radiation safety, nuclear emergency preparedness and response, and make positive contributions to promoting the sustainable development of global nuclear safety and protecting human health and the ecological environment.

Mr. Chair.

The issue of Japan's nuclear-contaminated water is a matter that has a bearing on global marine environment and public health. It is not a domestic matter in Japan. Many countries, including China, Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation and the island countries in the Pacific, have expressed serious concern and opposition to Japan's decision to discharge nuclear-contaminated water into the sea. The recent Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders is the latest example of this. The general public in Japan is also strongly opposed to the proposal of discharge into the sea.

Regrettably, for more than a year, Japan has neither provided a convincing explanation of the legitimacy of the program of discharge into the sea, the reliability of the data, the effectiveness of the purification devices and the uncertainty of the environmental impact, which are of great concern to the international community, nor conducted adequate and meaningful consultations with stakeholders, including neighboring countries, while the Agency's Task Force is still conducting a comprehensive assessment and has not reached a final conclusion. Japan is bent on continuing to advance its preparations for discharge into the sea. On July 22nd, Japan formally approved the plan of discharge into the sea and launched the construction work of the discharge tunnel into the sea on August 4th. This attempt by the Japan to create a fait accompli is extremely irresponsible.

Mr. Chair.

Since the beginning of this year, the Agency's Task Force has conducted two missions to Japan to assess the situation and has made many suggestions for improvements regarding Japan’s nuclear-contaminated water discharge into the sea. The Task Force also plans for anther mission to Japan at the end of this year. China supports the Agency in upholding an objective, impartial, scientific and responsible approach, fully listening to the views of stakeholders, and assisting the international community to ensure the absolute safety of the disposal of nuclear-contaminated water in Japan. Japan should fully cooperate with the Task Force and accept the participation of third-party laboratories, including stakeholder countries, in the sampling and monitoring of nuclear-contaminated water to ensure that its disposal is carried out in an open, transparent, scientific and safe manner.

Mr. Chair.

At the end of May this year, China and the Russian Federation jointly proposed to Japan a technical questionnaire on the disposal of Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water, which has been circulated to Member States through the Agency’s Secretariat. Japan responded to the questionnaire from China and the Russian Federation only on the eve of the approval of the nuclear-contaminated water discharge program, which did not leave time for the two countries to study and give feedback. This did not show Japan’s sincerity in addressing the concerns of its neighbors. China is carefully studying Japan's response in depth and reserves the right to raise further questions and concerns.

China once again urges Japan to face up to the legitimate and reasonable concerns of all countries and its own nationals, strengthen consultations with stakeholders and relevant international mechanisms, stop pushing the program of discharge into the sea, while working earnestly to find proper disposal solutions for nuclear-contaminated water, coupled with  strict monitoring by the Agency. Japan should not initiate the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea without permission until it has fully consulted and reached agreement with the stakeholders and the relevant international organizations.

With these comments, the Chinese delegation takes note of the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Report as contained in GOV/2022/35.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.