Nuclear Power Policy in China and Germany-A Comparative Case Study After Fukushima

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Nuclear Power Policy in China and Germany-A Comparative Case Study after Fukushima

Draft paper by Sheng, Chunhong FFU ([email protected]) [Abstract]Nuclear power is a controversial topic surrounding by science and politics, is it an evidence for sustainable development? The different nuclear power policies in China and Germany provided a vivid picture. China has published the medium and long-term nuclear power developing plan (2005-2020) which in the name of engaging sustainable development, climate change policies and clean energy policies. While Germany just made a decision to phase out nuclear power by 2022 after the Fukushima event and was praised for the sustainable development and renewable policies. It is interesting to look at the scientific and political framework for the different polices in these two countries after Fukushima. My paper will use discourse theory, which will analyze academic, scientific works, governmental documents and different news resources to examine how they legitimate for their different nuclear policies in their countries and how these polices got passed in the decision-making process, especially after the Fukushima nuclear event. Then the paper will explain what lead to these different policies in the two different country contexts. The interaction and relations between science and politics in these two countries will be studied. Not only the interests and powers behind scientific research undermined the objective of scientific evidence, but also the uncertainty of scientific or unclear of cause and effects greatly reduced the power of science in politics. The process of policy-making including scientific evidence for sustainable development is greatly influenced by politics.

Keywords: Nuclear power policy, discourse theory, Germany, China

Introduction

After more than one year of the Fukushima event, the demonstrations in Japan came again as the headline of the mass media worldwide. Tens of thousands of people crowded into a park in central Tokyo on Monday to protest the use of nuclear power in Japan, especially since the Japanese government announced the reactivation of the first nuclear reactor since the Fukushima crisis(BBC 07-02-2012; FOCUS 07-29-2012;

Reuters and guardian 07-30-2012; CHINADAI L Y 0 7-31-2012; CNN 2012).The role of nuclear

power is controversial in the world, is it still a solution for energy demanding, environmental protection and climate change? There are rethinking of nuclear power, still its role in human society is in different opinions. The different nuclear polices in Germany and China provide a vivid comparison to reflect human‘s dilemma in developing nuclear power. Is nuclear power an evidence for sustainable development? Germany and China have different answers to this question as showed by their different actions. Germany has decided to the phasing out nuclear power by 2022 and is going to make a rapid transition to the age of renewable energies. The impacts of

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the recent earthquake on Japan's nuclear power stations sparked a change in attitudes

toward nuclear energy use in Germany. The intention is for renewable energies‘ share

of power generation to rise from the current 17 percent of power consumption to at least 35 percent in 2020. (BMU 09-2011). While China has said that it will safely and high-effectively to develop nuclear power, even though China State Council issued a ban to approve new nuclear reactor programs and demanded a comprehensive check of those running and under construction instantly after Fukushima event, the will to develop nuclear power is unshakable.(Chen 03-17-2011) China has published its ambitious nuclear power develop plan in 2007 by National Develop and Reform

Commission, the Medium and Long-term Nuclear Power Developing Plan

(2005-2020). In this plan, the role of nuclear power is clearly defined as mitigating global warming, reducing pollution, meeting the energy demand and energy security, optimizing the electricity structure and sustainable development. It is suggested by some experts from the Chinese Academy of Engineering and China Nuclear Association which are the main think tank for nuclear power development policies that China should expand nuclear capacity from the original aim of 40 GWe (which will be reached at the end of 2015 in advance) to 70 GWe until 2020 base on the 10.80 GWe in 2005.(Deng 05-22-2011; Wang 05-31-2012). Even though China‘s restart of the nuclear has not yet happened, it is on its way quietly after the ratification of

Nuclear Safety and Radioactive Pollution Prevention 12th Five-Year Plan and the

2020 Vision by the State Council, now the nuclear industry is waiting for the Nuclear

Safety Plan and the Adjusted Medium and Long-term Nuclear Power Developing

Plan (2005-2020).(Hao 07-05-2012) Nuclear power policies are on the top agenda of both countries, but how they justify or legitimate their totally different nuclear policies in their own countries after Fukushima?

Since nuclear power is a high technology concentrated by scientists, the experts played an important role in the decision-making process of nuclear power energy polices through their knowledge. My paper is going to use discourse theory to analyze this process of legitimizing in both countries by politicians and experts who are the focus of my research subjects. The following part is going to explain my theory and methods, and then the paper will analyze the discourses in China and Germany respectively. After the description of discourses in both countries, I will try to explain the causes of the differences and the implications. The expecting conclusion is that the process of policy-making including scientific evidence for sustainable development is greatly influenced by politics.

Theory and methods

This paper will use discourse theory as a framework for analysis of political and scientific discourses around the nuclear energy policy in Germany and China after Fukushima nuclear crisis. ‗Discourse‘ is defined here as an ensemble of ideas, concepts and categories through which meaning is given to social and physical phenomena, and which is produced and reproduced through an identifiable set of practices (Hajer and V e rsteeg 2005). Meaning is discourse dependent so that it is the discourse makes the world meaningful. (Hardy and Phillips 2002). Even though Fukushima is a fact, still its meaning and implications to Germany and China are

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differently constructed by politicians and scientists through their knowledge in both countries. Knowledge refers to all kinds of contents that make up a human consciousness, or in other words, all kinds of meanings that people use to interpret and shape their environment. (Maier 2009) It is power, while it is created through social interaction in which we construct common truths and compete what is true and false (Jørgensen and Phillips 2002). Politics is a struggle of power, in this way it is a struggle about how to construct nuclear power in both countries through their knowledge to protect their own meaning. All information through various media about Fukushima challenged the former meaning of nuclear power in both countries. Politics involves reconciling differences through discussion and persuasion. Communication is therefore central to politics. And the doing politics is predominantly constituted in language. Different knowledge is constructed and contested in the mass media about nuclear energy. And the struggle between different knowledge claims could be understood and empirically explored as a struggle between different discourses which represent different powers and reveals the different identities of the speakers.(Jørgensen and Phillips 2002) According to Michel Foucault‘s discourse theory: within a discursive formation, social agents perpetuate power though the knowledge contained in the predominant discourse. Discourse analysis would identify the knowledge and how the knowledge firmly connected to powers and interests.(Maier 2009) To systematically explore often opaque relationships of causality and determination between a discursive practices, events and texts, and wider social and cultural structures, relations and processes；to investigate how such practices, events and texts arise out of and are ideologically shaped by relations of power and struggles over power.(Locke 2004)

Political discourse is a struggle of different meanings. Politics actors fix on what we

have called ‗legitimization‘. What this means is that humans using language

politically seem to feel a strong pressure to justify their actions or proposals for action

in terms of oppositions between right and wrong. At the heart of what we call ‗politics‘ is the attempt to get others to ―share a common view‖ about what is useful-harmful,

good-evil, just –unjust. Language is the only means for doing this. (Chilton 2004) Legitimizing and delegitimizing is an important function of political discourse. (Chilton 2004). The legitimizing their nuclear power policy, make what kinds of change, becomes a political struggle of knowledge which could be seen in the media. The Fukushima event in Japan is a fact, but how to discourse this fact is in different actors‘ hand through their knowledge and power. Because reality is seen as socially constructed, the analysis of meaning becomes central; for interpretative environmental policy research, it is not an environmental phenomenon in itself that is important, but the way in which society makes sense of this phenomenon. (Hajer and V e rsteeg 2005) What is the meaning of Fukushima event in China and Germany? The meaning of Japan Fukushima event is strongly affected by the political context of both countries. There is a competition defining nuclear energy‘s role worldwide in the future energy blueprint. The process of analyzing nuclear energy discourses and the potential of this methodology for revealing the processes of social construction in both countries would shed some light to the relation between science and politics.

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Obviously different meanings in Germany and China lead to different nuclear energy policies. In the following section, we are going to look at the nuclear energy discourses in Germany and China after the Fukushima event guided by the following questions in mind.

1, who are the main subjects or actors in these different discourses of meaning and what powers and interest behind them?

2, what is their knowledge about nuclear power? 3, what functions does this knowledge have for the different subjects or actors? 4, what influence does these knowledge have for the nuclear power policy decisions?

The discourse event is nuclear power policy after Fukushima event in Germany and China. I am going to pick out the relevant materials from academia, scientific works, government documents, experts‘ interviews and statements, news reports, some blogs and some forums and focus on their discourses of nuclear power. All these information I am going to get is from internet, since the internet produce and reproduce information from the above forms of materials. The key words are nuclear power in Germany and China with time span after Fukushima nuclear crisis.

Discourses in China

Firstly let‘s have a look at the former nuclear power policy which is facing challenges after Fukushima in China. China has a grand nuclear power plan named Middle and Long-term of Nuclear Power Development (2005-2020) which is made by the National Develop and Reform Commission (NDRC). This is included in the Five Years Plan which is the guideline of policies in China by the State Council. As a lack of a lead nuclear energy development body, the NDRC typically relies on research institutes, such as Tsinghua University, and nuclear industrial units to shape nuclear energy policies and to demonstrate their feasibility.(Zhou, Rengifo et al. 2011). In order to deal with energy problems, the State Council set up National Energy Commission in 2010 to take charge of energy issues. There are expectations that a Ministry of Energy would be set up in order to have a leading body to take responsible for energy policies. However, the National Energy Administration (NEA) is still under the leadership of NDRC and it takes responsibility for the daily administration of NEC. The NEA, under the NDRC and NEC, is responsible for: 1, the management of nuclear power; 2, laying out the nuclear development plan, entrance conditions, technical standards and its organization and implementation; 3, giving assessment opinion about the nuclear power planning and major project; 4, coordinating and guiding the research of nuclear power and the organization of the nuclear power plant emergency management. The NEA has the most authority among these agencies related to nuclear safety. It is responsible for licensing nuclear power plants which meet nuclear safety requirements (Wang and Chen 2012). After the Fukushima nuclear crisis, Primer Wen Jiabao, leader of State Council, hold a standing committee conference which made ―Four Decisions‖ about nuclear power development on 16^th, March 2011, five days after Fukushima nuclear crisis, organized an expert team to check the nuclear safety of nuclear power plants in China and frozen the approval of new nuclear power plants until the adjusted Medium and Long

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term Nuclear Power Plan comes out. There is no name list of experts in the safety check team on the website of Ministry of Environment. But the Chinese Academia of Engineering is working on a key consulting project about Re-Research of Nuclear Power in China and it is said they has some phased research result, Suggestions about Nuclear Power Development in New Situation was heard at the State Council Standing Committee conference on 31th May 2012.(StateCouncil 2012). Even though the call of restart of new nuclear power plants is high, still the new nuclear power plan is not published yet. Most of the companies and shareholders are waiting for the decision of the State Council. Since the 18^thNational Congress of the Communist Party will be held in October 2012, and the Chinese new generation of leadership will come out, maybe the readjusted of nuclear power policy will be the task of next generation of government. The main subjects or actors in China nuclear power field are as following graphic showed.

Supreme Committee

State Council Wen Jiabao

All decisions
Includes five-years-plan and guidelines for nuclear policy

State Electricity Regulatory Commission
(SERC)
Chinese Academy of
Science

National

Energy Commission (NEC2010)
Ministry of Environmental Protection
(MEP)
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT2008)
State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration

Commission

Development

and Reform Commission (NDRC)
(SASAC)

1,China National Nuclear Corporation
(CNNC)
2,China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation
(CAS)
(CGNPC)

3,China Power Investment Corporation
(CPIC)
4,China International Engineering Consulting Corporation
CIECC
Chinese Academy of
Engineering
(CAE)
Chinese Academy of Social Science
CASS
National Natural Science Foundation of
China
5,State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation
(SNPTC,2007) shared by State Council 60%
CNNC 10% CGNPC10% +CPIC10%
NNSFC
China Nuclear Energy
Association
+CNTIC 10% China National Technology Import and
Export Corporation
CNEA(2007)

Zhang Pin Xie Zhenhua
Wen,Jiabao Li,Kejiang Zhang,Pin Liu,Tienan
Zhou,Shengxian Li,Ganjie Xu,Qinghua

Miao,Yu

Wang,Yong

1,Sun,Qin(CNNC) 2,He,Yu(CGNPC) 3,Lu,Qizhou(CPIC)
4,Xiao,Fengtong(CIECC)
5,Wang,Binhua
National Energy
National Energy
National Nuclear
Safety
China Atomic Energy
Energy Department of CIECC
Administration (NEA2008) Liu Tienan
Administration
(NEA2008) Liu Tienan
Administration
(NNSA)
Authority (CAEA) Chen,Qiufa Wang,Yiren
Wang,Zeping

After description of the major government agencies and scientific research institutes related to nuclear power in China, and then we will have a look at different discourses about nuclear power in China and their relations to these agencies and institutes.

First, let‘s turn to the news reports from the internet, which is considered the most timely to report the nuclear crisis and it gathers all kinds of interviews and blogs, is quiet a diverse flat plat for observing dynamic discourses. Since there are hundreds of articles related to nuclear power policy after Fukushima event. I am going to pick one of the website Sina.com which is one of the most popular websites in China as a representative. After I get the lists of articles, I will read through them and find out the main discourses and then put them in subgroups. I will try to take a note of relevant important information, for example, important individuals from above mentioned government departments and institutions.

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There are 937 articles and 190 are picked out from more than 40 different newspapers, magazines and internet news reports agencies, which included important statements from above subjects about nuclear power policy in China and their knowledge about nuclear power energy is spoken out and debated in public.

In order to connect the macro entity with micro representation, here in the discourse we identify the speakers‘ background and their relationship with macro agents, after that the paper will analysis entities‘ role in decision-making process, these individual‘s knowledge about nuclear power and their influence to the society as whole.

Time and frequency High to low

Discourses subgroups

Important

individuals

statements

from

key Notes and analysis

13:46,March,11^th,2011-Sept, 29^th,2011
Special report about Japan‘s 9.0 earthquake 1,The mini-blogs report from the public Rumors and nuclear fear after nuclear plants

and nuclear crisis

and journalists

explosion even worse than in Japan and the

radiation itself. The instability of society in nuclear crisis made a deep impression to the government which makes it closely related to politics-to sustain social stability.