South China Regional Office Conducts Special Nuclear Safety Inspection on Fangchenggang Nuclear Power Plant in Response to Extreme Weather

Since 2026, the coastal area where Fangchenggang City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is located has experienced frequent extreme weather events. During the passage of Typhoon “Maysak” (Typhoon Maysak) in July, the maximum gust measured on site at the Fangchenggang Nuclear Power Plant (Fangchenggang Nuclear Power Plant) reached Force 9, with cumulative rainfall during the event reaching as high as 424.2 mm; in August, affected by the peripheral circulation of Typhoon “Zitan” (Typhoon Zitan), the area once again suffered sustained heavy wind and rain, with localized cumulative rainfall exceeding 300 mm. In response to the severe climatic situation of superimposed strong typhoons and short-duration heavy rainfall, the South China Regional Office of Nuclear and Radiation Safety Inspection of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (hereinafter referred to as the South China Regional Office) recently took the initiative to station at the Fangchenggang Nuclear Power Plant, organizing and conducting routine nuclear safety on-site inspection and supervision for the prevention of severe weather impacts, urging the operating unit to comprehensively review and reinforce the defense-in-depth system.

To ensure that the inspection and supervision possessed both technical depth and industry benchmarking effectiveness, the South China Regional Office specially invited authoritative experts in the fields of meteorology and hydrology, and mobilized senior engineering backbone personnel from other domestic nuclear power bases to jointly form a joint inspection team, conducting a comprehensive “diagnostic review” of the typhoon prevention, flood prevention emergency plans, and engineering physical defense barriers of the Fangchenggang Nuclear Power Plant. The inspection team adopted multiple methods including symposium exchanges, in-depth interviews with personnel at their posts, penetrative spot checks of overhaul and routine maintenance procedure documents, and on-site verification of key flood control and wind prevention locations in the plant area, carrying out a carpet-style investigation of management procedure formulation and closed-loop execution, the availability and regular maintenance of emergency facilities and equipment such as flood control and drainage, and the specific implementation measures for responding to extreme severe weather, striving to precisely identify underlying technical shortcomings while deeply exploring the management mechanism deficiencies behind them.

During the implementation of the inspection, the South China Regional Office firmly adhered to a problem-oriented approach, closely combined with the assessment opinions of the expert group, and comprehensively reviewed and deeply analyzed the weak links exposed by the Fangchenggang Nuclear Power Plant in responding to multiple rounds of super typhoon and rainstorm impacts. The South China Regional Office urged the operating unit to systematically sort out and consolidate practical experience in flood prevention and typhoon prevention, strictly benchmark against the design basis for extreme external disasters, continuously improve preventive reinforcement and modification of physical barriers such as the peripheral flood interception ditches, pump house drainage outlets, and waterproof rolling shutters at plant building openings, and effectively promote dynamic upgrading of disaster prevention and mitigation capabilities. The South China Regional Office explicitly required at the feedback meeting that the operating unit must always keep the string of nuclear safety taut, strengthen extreme thinking and bottom-line risk awareness, and continuously improve various emergency response and engineering prevention measures with an attitude of treading on thin ice.

In follow-up work, the South China Regional Office will continue to closely monitor the implementation of on-site rectification, further compact and consolidate the operating unit's comprehensive main responsibility for nuclear safety, strengthen full-cycle closed-loop risk control, and continuously enhance the intrinsic safety of nuclear facilities in a climate-variable environment through rigorous, meticulous, and solid regulation, providing a firm guarantee for the long-term safe and stable operation of multiple units at the Guangxi Fangchenggang Nuclear Power Plant.