"China Nuclear Power Plant Incidents Highlight 'Systemic' Safety Concerns", 9 Jan 2017

A string of mishaps at Chinese nuclear power plants last year has raised concerns about the safety of the rapidly growing industry, especially given the country's overall industrial safety record, experts told RFA. By 2020, China will be the second-biggest producer of nuclear power after France, with 35 generators currently in operation and 21 more in the pipeline.

But last October, the National Nuclear Safety Administration (CNNSA) made public 16 safety failures that occurred in China's nuclear plants in 2016, all involving mistakes made by staff members, official media reported...Six incidents involved staff members breaching operational guidelines, and four were caused by a lack of internal communication, it said. More worryingly, six were caused by staff members "pressing the wrong buttons," the report said. While none of the errors is believed to have resulted in leakage of radioactive material, nor posed any threat to the public, the report comes against the backdrop of a litany of industrial accidents and public health and safety disasters in recent years...