Thousands rally in China against Sino-French nuclear project

Thousands of residents in an eastern Chinese port city have taken to the streets to protest against a possible Sino-French nuclear project. 

Protesters in Lianyungang ignored police warnings, filling a square near government offices to oppose the proposed nuclear waste processing plant, residents said Monday.

In 2012, French nuclear fuel group Areva signed an agreement with Chinese National Nuclear Corp (CNNC) to build a reprocessing facility in China, without specifying a location.

Locals say Lianyungang is a prime candidate because a large new nuclear power station is being built by CNNC nearby.

Shouting slogans and waving banners, the protesters voiced their concerns over the negative health impacts of the suggested nuclear project.

“Building a nuclear waste processing plant in Lianyungang is a recipe for disaster for future generations, local people have a right to express anger,” a male hotel worker told the AFP news agency.

Pictures posted online showed locals massing in a public square surrounded by hundreds of police.

Locals put the number of the protesters at several thousands, saying there were clashes with police.

The city's police denied a "rumor" that they had beaten protesters resulting in the death of one person.

China is increasing its nuclear power capacity on a huge scale and encouraging state-run firms to build plants abroad.

According to the World Nuclear Association, mainland China has 34 nuclear power reactors in operation, 20 under construction, and work about to start on more.

China froze approvals of new nuclear projects to perform a safety review a few days after Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant suffered a triple meltdown in an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

The following year, however, Beijing resumed approvals despite a warning from the Ministry of Environmental Protection that it was “not optimistic” about the country’s nuclear safety condition.