Study On Government Responsibility Of Spent Fuel Management In China

China implements the policy of closed nuclear fuel cycle.Spent fuel is not nuclear waste in China and should not be treated as radioactive waste for management.As one of the important links of nuclear power development,the safety management of spent fuel is of great significance for protecting the environment,adjusting the national energy structure and promoting social and economic development.With the increasing proportion of nuclear power in China’s energy structure,how to manage the continuously increasing spent fuel is an urgent problem to be solved at present.Due to the particularity of nuclear energy utilization,the government has always been the most critical subject in the management of spent fuel,strengthening its responsibility research in the management of spent fuel is conducive to maintaining the order of spent fuel management,ensuring the safety of spent fuel management and promoting the development of nuclear energy.Based on the theory of rule of law government,order administration,responsible government and risk administration,the government’s responsibilities in spent fuel management mainly include guiding responsibility,supervision responsibility,responsibility investigation and risk prevention.Although there are some regulations on government responsibility for spent fuel in China’s legislation,there are still some problems,such as insufficient legislation,insufficient supervision,single form of accountability and weak awareness of risk prevention.Other nuclear power countries have strengthened the government’s responsibility for spent fuel management by improving legislation,strengthening supervision and establishing relevant systems.China can learn from the experience of other nuclear power countries in the safety management of spent fuel,improve the laws,administrative regulations,departmental regulations,guidelines and related standards of spent fuel management in China,and promulgation of the Atomic Energy Law as soon as possible to provide guidance for the formulation of administrative regulations and departmental regulations on spent fuel management.Adhere to the principle of safety as the first,formulate China’s spent fuel management policies and plans,from the national level of spent fuel management activities overall management;Improve the spent fuel supervision system and set up special spent fuel supervision units and competent units to guarantee the orderly management of spent fuel.We will explore multiple forms of accountability,parallel legal and political accountability mechanisms,and urge governments to fulfill their responsibilities.We will strengthen the public participation system,establish an effective "risk communication" mechanism,and strengthen the government’s responsibility for risk prevention.