China suspends approval of new nuclear power plants

BBC : In a surprise move, China’s premier, Wen Jiabao, has announced that approvals for new nuclear power plants in China are suspended and that safety checks will be carried out at the country’s 13 reactors. Although China obtains only 2% of its electricity from nuclear plants, it is building 27 new reactors and has plans for 70 more. Like Japan, China is prone to earthquakes and catastrophic flooding. Wen’s official statement noted that “if there is an accident it will be worse than in Japan because many of the new plants are near high-population areas so we need to be careful.”