China is spending and spending for a rapid expansion of nuclear power plants but according to a leading Chinese scientist, this could all backfire because they’re not investing enough in safety controls.

He Zuoxiu said the plans are risky because building these plants with little safety could result into something even worse than what happened at the Fukushima plant after the deadly quake and tsunami that hit Japan. He says if there was ever an accident, it could contaminate the water supply of the populated nation that heavily relies on it for their farms.

China did stop the approval of new reactors after the disaster in Japan to review its safety standards, but gave the green light for two units back in March. This is all part of a plan to surpass Japan’s nuclear-generating capacity five years from now and become the world’s biggest user of nuclear power ten years later.

United States president, Barack Obama, recently announced plans to renew a deal with the nation that would allow them to buy more reactors. The government has its eyes set on expanding nuclear plants as part of a huge effort to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. They also want to reduce their dependence on imported oil and gas.

Plans Going Too Fast

He, who knows a lot about the subject and has worked on China’s nuclear weapons program in the past, says the plan is going too fast and that prevents them from ensuring the safety and monitoring expertise needed to avoid a major accident.“There are currently two voices on nuclear energy in China. One prioritizes safety while the other prioritizes development,” He told the Guardian in an interview at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

He spoke of risks including “corruption, poor management abilities and decision-making capabilities”. He said: “They want to build 58 (gigawatts of nuclear generating capacity) by 2020 and eventually 120 to 200. This is insane.”

He has gathered the attention of many because of his scientific credentials and a long history of going against the government in controversial issues. He has been heard all around the world with his stance from the 1950s destruction of Beijing’s city walls to the persecution in the 1990s on the religious group Falun Gong.

Take It Slow

He would like to see his country take the expansion slowly by stopping everything after the ones being finished are completed. Then he wants them to wait a few years so they can gain experience before adding more. Most of the reactors running in the populated country were started after 2000. “China currently does not have enough experience to make sound judgments on whether there could be accidents,” he said. “The number of reactors and the amount of time they have been operating safely both matter.

“The safety reviews after Fukushima found some problems, but only minor ones, and the final conclusion is that China’s nuclear power is safe. But the safety checks were carried out under the old standards and the standards themselves clearly need big improvements.”

Human Error Has Played a Huge Part

He says Chinese government officials have responded in the past by saying nuclear technology has improved since the Chernobyl and Three Mile Island disasters but they’re not taking in consideration the human error and flawed safety regimes that occurred in both of these cases.

People in charge of the Fukushima plant have admitted that the company did not take much time in making sure that disaster prevention measures were at their best. “Japan has better technology and better management, and yet it couldn’t avoid an accident despite the fact that it tried very hard to learn from the US and USSR,” He said, adding that China’s nuclear expansion will offer low salaries which will not attract the best scientists.

The leading scientist believes the nation has thought about safety standards but at the same time ignored them because of the huge pressure from companies willing to spend on these massive projects. “There were internal discussions on upgrading standards in the past four years, but doing so would require a lot more investment which would affect the competitiveness and profitability of nuclear power,” He said. “Nuclear energy costs are cheap because we lower our standards.”

Will the country listen to his take or will they keep on going with these great but dangerous expansions?