While a few countries are getting out of the nuclear industry, China is getting in -- and at an energetic pace. According to current plans China will enlarge its nuclear lineup in the next 12 years from 11 to 30 reactors, which will produce about 40 million kilowatts of electricity. To reach this goal, up to three 1,000-megawatt power plants will have to go online each year between now and 2020.

But even this rapid pace of growth is no longer fast enough for Beijing's energy politicians. Because the country's booming industry and mushrooming cities require more and more electricity, the country must "accelerate the development of the nuclear industry," Zhao Xiaoping of the National Development and Reform Commission recently said.

The state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation, a giant conglomerate with 280,000 employees, is responsible for China's nuclear power plants as well as the military portion of its nuclear industry. The giant agency's latest goal is to beef up capacity so that China's nuclear power plants will produce 60 million kilowatts by 2020, or about five percent of total energy demand. If the officials have their way, nuclear power will account for 16 percent of Chinese electricity by 2030.

The next generation of reactors will be built in the provinces, in the country's interior, not along the eastern and southern coast, which has been typical up to now. In contrast to other countries, hardly anyone in China questions the government's nuclear policy. The government, for its part, downplays the risks of reactors, or even denies them altogether. There is no national movement against nuclear power, nor would it be permitted. The press is barred from reporting on accidents.

Reactors Near Megacities

Reactors in the so-called third generation are safer than earlier models, say officials in China's nuclear bureaucracy. According to a brochure for the Qinshan nuclear complex near Shanghai, electricity from nuclear power is "safe, clean and economically efficient energy," and it helps reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, such as from coal power plants. "All 11 units are operating safely and normally," Li Ganjie, the cabinet minister in charge of safety at nuclear power plants recently announced. He also claimed that China has not had a single "radioactive accident," and that the air near nuclear power plants is no more radioactive than it was prior to their construction.

Although many reactors are dangerously close to China's megacities, like Shanghai, Hangzhou and Hong Kong, there are no known disaster plans in the event of a major accident. When asked about the risks, a senior official at the Qinshan nuclear complex near Shanghai tersely insisted that "international safety regulations" are followed at the plant's five reactors. For instance, the official said, no one is permitted to live within 10 kilometers (six miles) of the Qinshan reactors -- a rule which many local residents ignore.

So far there has been only one known case of resistance to the constructon of a nuclear power plant. Five thousand local residents signed a petition earlier this year against a plan to build a nuclear plant near Rushan in the eastern province of Shandong. The petition argued that the area is too densely populated and that the plant would be detrimental to an important seaside resort.

Hidden Fuel Rods, and Not Enough Water

Despite China's ambitious expansion plans, the question of long-term disposal of nuclear waste remains unresolved. Because the Chinese nuclear industry is still in its infancy, say officials, the current scope of waste is "modest." The country's final storage sites are in the deserts of Gansu Province, and the waste is taken there in trucks.

The military apparently transports the fuel rods, so details are a state secret. Even the environment ministry, which is responsible for monitoring the environmental impact of nuclear reactors, is unfamiliar with the details of nuclear transports.