China has activated its contingency plans for nuclear and radiation pollution as a precautionary step in the earthquake-ravaged Chinas Sichuan province.
The local Environmental Protection Bureaus have been issued an ”urgent notice” to closely monitor the status of nuclear facilities and ensure a hundred per cent nuclear and radiation safety, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said.
The day the 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck, the ministry held an emergency meeting called by the Minister for Environmental Protection Zhou Shengxian to study disaster relief arrangement and decided to invoke contingency plans for nuclear and radiation pollution and for water pollution, the ministry said on its official website.
A team of environmental professions headed by Vice-Minister Li Ganjie was sent to the disaster area to provide ”guidance” for emergency relief, it said.
The region has some key atomic sites and the country’s chief nuclear weapons research lab.
The local EPBs have also been told to follow the situation of some environmental sensitive facilities like chemical plants, hazardous chemicals and sewage treatment plants and related regions to prevent and control possible environmental pollution accidents, the ministry said.