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China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA)
中国原子能机构
CHAIRMAN/PRESIDENT: Zhang Huazhu [former Vice President, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC)]. Zhang also serves as a Vice Minister of the new Commission of Science, Technology & Industry for National Defense (COSTIND) and chairman of the National Nuclear Emergency Coordination Commission.
VICE CHAIRMAN: Xu Yuming
OTHER NAMES: National Atomic Energy Authority (NAEA); State Atomic Energy Agency; China Nuclear Energy Authority (CNEA); China Atomic Energy Commission (CAEC); China National Atomic Energy Authority (CNAEA)
Known as China's equivalent to the US Department of Energy, the CAEA is mainly a regulatory agency for the nuclear industry. The CAEA is currently under the control of COSTIND. Some of the CAEA's major responsibilities include maintaining China's cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and reviewing applications for exports of nuclear equipment and technologies (not nuclear materials). Other responsibilities include: formulating nuclear industry development programs, guidelines, policies, laws and regulations; managing nuclear power construction and nuclear fuel and isotope production; promoting the development and research of the peaceful uses of nuclear energy; implementing reform of the nuclear industry; and managing international exchanges and cooperation. [Tang Zongyu, "Guide to Chinese Nuclear Organizations," Nuclear Europe Worldscan, November/December 1999, p. 56.]
The CAEA also oversees the National Nuclear Emergency Coordination Commission, the body responsible for organizing and coordinating emergency efforts in the event of a nuclear accident. The commission is based in Beijing at the National Nuclear Emergency Center, which completed construction in January, 2003.
In the past the CAEA was controlled by the CNNC. Following the government reorganization begun in March 1998 the CAEA was placed under the control of the new COSTIND as one of its two subsidiary bureaus. This change separates the CAEA, which is a regulatory body, from the CNNC which is principally interested in promoting nuclear exports and the development of China's nuclear industry.
It is expected that all previous references to the CNNC in China's nuclear export control laws will now refer to the CAEA as the main government organization responsible for nuclear export controls.
Since 1998, the CAEA and the rest of China's nuclear industry have been undergoing a major restructuring and downsizing. In a speech before the Korean Atomic Industry Forum, CAEA's Vice Chairman, Xu Yuming, noted that there are many obstacles to the expansion of China's nuclear industry, such as excessive expectations on state investment, lack of funds, and the high costs associated with building nuclear power plants. Given these limitations, Xu noted that CAEA has begun to focus on key tasks such as: improved operation of Chinese reactors as measured by international indicators, greater attention to "quality control and schedule control" and preparation of a research and development program for next-generation nuclear power technology to have "better safety and economics." Xu also stressed that planners are to"... promote self reliance in design and equipment localization for nuclear power," warning that "in the long term, over-diversification of technologies does no good for safety and economics."
The five departments of the CAEA include:
ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENT
SYSTEM ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
GENERAL PLANNING DEPARTMENT
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND QUALITY CONTROL DEPARTMENT
Last updated: 4/2/2003
This
material is produced independently for NTI by the James Martin
Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of
International Studies and does not necessarily reflect the
opinions of and has not been independently verified by NTI or
its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2007 by
MIIS.
