U.S. AND CHINA HOLD FIRST PROBABILISTIC SAFETY ASSESSMENT

UNCLAS GUANGZHOU 000074 SENSITIVE SIPDIS State for EAP/CM, EB/ESC, OES/ENV, INR/EAP; USTR for China Office Beijing for FCS, ESTH and DOE USDOE for Nuclear Energy/Miller, Lyons, Herczeg, Gillespie, McGinnis USDOE for NNSA/Baker, Black, Whitney, Huizenga, Bieniawski USDOE for PI/Sandalow, Yoshida, Cutler, Huangfu E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ENRG TRGY SENV PREL PGOV CH SUBJECT: U.S. AND CHINA HOLD FIRST PROBABILISTIC SAFETY ASSESSMENT WORKSHOP FOR NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS IN SHENZEN, CHINA REF: 09 STATE 129517 ¶1. (SBU) Officials and nuclear energy experts from the United States and China convened in Shenzhen, Guangdong January 20-23 to share information and best practices for improving safety in the operation of nuclear power plants (NPPS). The workshop was a key cooperative activity that the U.S. Department of Energy and the Chinese National Energy Administration (NEA) agreed to organize during a meeting last August of the 5th U.S.-China Joint Coordinating Committee (JCC) under the Peaceful Uses of Energy Technology (PUNT) Agreement. As the first bilateral workshop organized around the theme of probabilistic safety assessment (PSA),the bulk of presentations and discussion at the workshop focused on the benefits and diverse applications of PSA, a risk assessment methodology that analyzes both the magnitude of a potential adverse consequence and the likelihood that such a consequence would occur. ¶2. (SBU) The U.S. delegation was led by the Deputy Director of Department of Energy (DOE) Office at Embassy Beijing and included an official from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and four nuclear safety experts employed by U.S. DOE laboratories. Chinese participants included officials from the National Energy Administration, the Ministry of Environmental Protection's National Nuclear Safety Administration (NNSA),experts from the China Nuclear Power Technology Research Institute, as well as representatives from leading nuclear power companies. ¶3. (SBU) The two sides agreed to a series of potential follow-on activities, subject to the availability of resources. These include other workshops that would address specific topics identified during the Shenzhen workshop and a pilot project at an existing and operating NPP in China that would bring together U.S. and Chinese technical teams to implement key safety projects. ¶4. (U) This cable was coordinated with the U.S. DOE delegation that attended the workshop. GOLDBECK