Safety key to plans for nuclear power

The fight to avoid a disaster at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant after the devastating 9.0-magnitude earthquake should serve as a warning to China that it must exercise caution in its ambitious nuclear energy program over the coming decades.

On Sunday, Xie Zhenhua, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that the country will strengthen the monitoring and assessment of its nuclear power stations. This was after the Vice-Minister of Environmental Protection Zhang Lijun said on Saturday that China will draw lessons from the Japanese experience in mapping out its nuclear power development strategy, but reaffirmed the country's unwavering commitment to developing nuclear energy.

To meet the nation's soaring demand for energy and to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, China has developed a nuclear energy plan that will be the most aggressive in the world in the coming decades.