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Risk and Social Construction of Nuclear Power Development in China: Local People’s Participation in Civil Nuclear Issues in China at the start of the 21st Century Xiang Fang PhD in Sociology University of Edinburgh 2010 Declaration I hereby declare that this thesis was composed by the author, the work contained herein is my own except where specific reference is made to other sources, and it has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification except as specified. Signed: Date: II Abstract China’s civil nuclear power programme is a sensitive topic which has seldom been researched by social or political scientists inside or outside of China. In the past, public participation activities in relation to nuclear power issues in China were rare. However, in 2005, when the central government decided to promote civil nuclear development and build 40 more nuclear reactors within the next 20 years, the public started to become aware of the potential environmental risks that might be caused by nuclear power sites. Based on six months of ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2007-2008, this thesis represents the first in-depth study of local people’s ways of participation concerning a potential inland nuclear power project in China. It provides rich empirical materials to illustrate local people’s differing perceptions of nuclear power and its risks. The thesis reviews developments in the sociological theorisation of ‘risk’ and, by bringing this body of literature into dialogue with the empirical case study, explores its possibilities and limitations as a means of understanding the social construction of risk in contemporary China. In exploring the social, cultural and political context of risk construction, it illustrates how political power and social status influence local people’s participation in nuclear power issues. It also demonstrates that citizens’ growing environmental risk awareness helps to create space within which they can make their voices heard and, simultaneously, that generating open spaces for people to express their opinions helps to shape their awareness of environmental risk. The central conclusion of the analysis is that, in the context of Chinese society political power, by which I mean policy makers’ ideology and all levels of governments, plays a particularly crucial role in the definition, management and governance of nuclear risk. III Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor Prof Steven Yearley for his unfaltering guidance, patience and sense of responsibility throughout my Master’s and PhD study. Without his encouragement I would not have been able to begin the research and go through the whole process of finishing the thesis. I would like to also thank my second supervisor Prof Francesca Bray for her guidance of my fieldwork research and her insightful comments. My grateful thanks go to Prof Robin Williams and Dr. Shen Xiaobai for introducing me to scholars in CSA and Tsingsua University in Beijing. Thanks also go to Prof Zhu Xiaomin for introducing interviewees to me in Beijing. Prof Wu Fengshi provided valuable comments and encouraged me to publish some of my research findings in the China Environment Series. Special thanks to several colleagues and friends for their help and support inside and outside Edinburgh: Mei, Lucia, Shulin, Sian, Paul, Bart, Zhongdong, Chengwei, Lucy, Aggeliki, Moxuan, Morgan, Jee. You all helped to make my lonely PhD life colourful and teach me a lot. I am also grateful to two of my proofreaders: Kristin for reading and editing most of the first draft of the thesis, and Nine for helping to read and edit both the first and final draft of the thesis. I would also like to thank the three gatekeepers, and all interviewees in Beijing, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Dapu townland, Shantou city and Chaozhou city. Without their help, it would not have been possible for me to complete research on such a sensitive topic in China. Finally, my greatest thanks go to my family. My parents, Fang Pengjian and Guo Yuexin, for their unfailing support, both emotionally and financially. It is their endless love and support that enabled me to finish my studies. Jiang Bo, my dear husband, for cheering me up whenever I felt stressed and depressed. Thank you for your love and offering me such a wonderful life. Shao Minghong, my mother-in-law, for taking care of me and offering such a good environment for me to write up my thesis in the final stage. I would also like to thank all other family relations and IV friends who helped and supported my studies. My cousin Liu Zhengyan and Xu Jianheng and their family kindly invited me to stay with them in Dapu townland and helped me to begin my fieldwork research. V To my parents VI List of Abbreviations CAEA China Atomic Energy Authority CAIN China Atomic Information Network CCP Chinese Communist Party CGNPG China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group CNPTC China Nuclear Power Technology Corporation CNNC China National Nuclear Corporation CSA China Science Academy DRCGP Development and Reform Commission of Guangdong Province DRCSC Development Research Centre of the State Council P. R China EHT Extra High Tension GNPC Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation GONGO Government organized Non- Government Organization HAB harmful algal bloom HLW High-level Waste IEAE International Atomic Energy Agency ILW intermediate-level wastes INNET Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology LLW low-level wastes LNG liquefied national gas LPC Local People’s Congress MPC Municipal People’s Congress MPCC Municipal Political Consultative Conference MPDs Municipal PDs MNI Ministry of Nuclear Industry MWE Ministry of Water and Electricity NDRC National Development and Reform Commission NGO Non-government Organization NNSA National Nuclear Safety Authority NPC National People's Congress NPG National Power Grid NRSMD National Radiation Sources Management Division NSTIC National Security Technology and Industry Commission VII PC People’s Congress PDs People’s Deputies PPC Provincial People’s Congress PPDs Provincial PDs QRA quantitative risk assessment SCSIO South China Sea Institute of Oceanology SEPA Station Environmental Protection Administration SEPB Shantou Environmental Protection Bureau SMMB Second Ministry of Machine Building SNERDI Shanghai Nuclear Engineering, Research and Design Institute SOE State Owned Entrepreneurs SSK Social Scientific Knowledge STS Science & Technology Studies SWT Sea Water Temperature TVPC Town and Village People’s Congress UKAEA UK Atomic Energy Authority VIII Table of context Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Context of China’s civil nuclear power development........................................ 3 1.2 Academic Objectives ......................................................................................... 5 1.3 The unit of research............................................................................................ 7 1.4 Thesis structure .................................................................................................. 8 Chapter 2: Literature Review..................................................................................... 10 2.1 Introduction...................................................................................................... 10 2.2 Critical Review of Risk Society and Reflexive Modernisation ....................... 11 2.3 Lay and Expert Knowledge of Risk................................................................. 17 2.3.1 Defining lay knowledge of risk................................................................. 18 2.3.2 Trust .......................................................................................................... 20 2.3.3 Critiques of Objective Risk Assessment................................................... 21 2.4 Risk Perception and Policy Decision-Making ................................................. 22 2.5 Risk in Environmental Sociology .................................................................... 26 2.5 Perception and participation of risk governance.............................................. 29 2.6 Risk and the Changing Chinese Society .......................................................... 31 2.7 Models of China’s Public Policy Agenda ........................................................ 38 2.8 Summary .......................................................................................................... 43 Chapter 3: Methodology ............................................................................................ 45 3.1 Obtaining documents