Study On Legal Issues Of Radioactive Contamination Risk Prevention In China

As global radioactive pollution accidents occur frequently, which then lead to huge environmental disaster, human health, property, safety and ecological environment all over the world are under tremendous harm. However, nuclear energy is playing a more and more important role as a part of the energy structure in China. While radioisotopes and radiation technology are applied more and more widely in agriculture, industry, medical treatment and other fields, safety issues and pollution issues also gradually appear in the development and use of nuclear energy and technology. Radioactive pollution refers to radioactive substances or rays discharged in production, daily life and other activities which exceed the national emission standard. This pollution made by over discharged substances and rays not only causes change of the level of environmental radioactivity and deterioration of environmental quality, but also affects environmental safety, does harm to human health and the environment, or has potential threat to the environment. Radioactive contamination is the same as nuclear contamination that we usually talk about, and it is part of the radiation contamination. The Chinese government always attaches great importance to environmental protection, and it now pays more and more attention to the environmental risk brought by radioactive contamination. Currently, legal source of radioactive contamination risk prevention includes national laws, administrative regulations, departmental rules and other regulatory documents, local laws, regulations and other regulatory documents, international conventions, and bilateral and multilateral treaties. Compared with the demand of environmental protection, these regulations still have certain deficiencies. The regulations are not comprehensive or systematic; the regulatory documents have low level of effectiveness; risk prevention legal system is imperfect; and risk prevention management system is not regulated. This paper has appropriately drawn lessons from the experiences and practices of law system on radioactive contamination risk prevention in foreign countries, and based on these lessons, this paper sets forth some ideas on how to improve China’s law system on radioactive contamination risk prevention. First it describes that legislation of radioactive pollution risk prevention should adhere to four cardinal principles:risk prevention, safety control, international cooperation, and universal participation. Then it brings up that China should make technological changes in legislation of radioactive pollution risk prevention, that is, to systematically amend the legal documents, and to legalize radioactive pollution risk prevention standards and technical norms. Combining with problems in principal legal systems of radioactive contamination risk prevention, this article makes deep discussion on how to further improve radioactive environment monitoring system, radioactive safety management and safety warning system, radiation risk communication system, radioactive waste management system, and the isotope filing system. Finally, the paper proposes that management system of radioactive pollution risk prevention must be straightened, and it suggests setting up a specialized and independent supervision institution and authorizing it with a unified supervision and management functions.