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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BEIJING 000202 
 
STATE FOR EAP/CM-BRAUNOHLER, EAP/CM 
STATE FOR ISN/NESS 
USDOE FOR NUCLEAR ENERGY/ MCGINNIS/ 
USDOE FOR NNSA/ D'AGOSTINO/ AOKI/ KROL/ MCCLELLAND/ WHITNEY 
USDOE FOR INTERNATIONAL/YOSHIDA, BISCONTI, HUANGFU 
STATE PASS TO NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION (DOANE) 
NSC FOR HOLGATE 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ENRG ECON ETTC TRGY KNNP IAEA KTIA CVIS CH
 
SUBJECT: CHINA'S MFA, CAEA PRESS FOR GREATER NUCLEAR SECURITY 
COOPERATION WITH DOE/NNSA 
 
Sensitive but unclassified - please protect accordingly. 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
¶1.   (SBU) Admiral Joseph J. Krol, Associate Administrator for the 
U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration 
(NNSA) Office of Emergency Operations, met with officials from 
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and the China Atomic 
Energy Authority (CAEA) on January 6-8 to discuss 
nuclear/radiological emergency response and continuing collaboration 
under the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism.  Admiral 
Krol also pressed for resuming collaboration on the long range 
tracer experiment (LRTE), an exercise designed to monitor and track 
a simulated radioactive plume across China.  The MFA and CAEA 
acknowledged that a bureaucratic reorganization of the Chinese 
government in 2008 had slowed some emergency response-related 
collaboration with the United States, but both Chinese organizations 
expressed a strong desire to reinvigorate cooperation.  Bolstering 
these statements, CAEA proposed detailed discussions between U.S. 
and Chinese medical teams that would be responsible for responding 
to a nuclear-related mass casualty event, while the MFA said it 
agreed in principal to the U.S. proposal to establish a center of 
excellence on nuclear security in China.  END SUMMARY. 
 
MFA LOOKING TO UP NONPROLIFERATION COOPERATION 
--------------------------------------------- - 
¶2.  (SBU) Deputy Director General (DDG) WU Haitao of the MFA's Arms 
Control Department thanked Admiral Krol and noted China's 
appreciation for USG assistance in the area of nuclear security.  Wu 
said that U.S. DOE and IAEA-sponsored training, particularly in the 
run-up to the Olympics, had been very helpful in building China's 
capacity to prevent nuclear terrorism and to ensure nuclear 
security; however, Wu acknowledged that some of this cooperation had 
stalled due to the 2008 government reorganization, which left key 
Chinese agencies short-handed.  Noting that nuclear safety and 
security is China's top priority as the government presses forward 
with the rapid expansion of nuclear power, Wu said China is ready 
and anxious to reengage with the United States in the area of 
nuclear security. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) According to DDG Wu, Chinese government interagency 
discussions on the U.S.-China Nuclear Security Cooperation 
non-paper, which was passed to MFA during DOE Under Secretary Daniel 
Poneman's visit to China in October 2009, have concluded and the GoC 
is in agreement with the papers substance.  Moreover, Wu said the 
MFA wants to move forward on the non-paper's proposal to establish a 
center of excellence in China.  [NOTE: The U.S. non-paper calls for 
the establishment of a joint center in China which will promote the 
adoption of modern security practices and anti-theft/anti-diversion 
technologies at Chinese nuclear facilities. END NOTE.] 
 
¶4.  (SBU) China remains committed to joint efforts related to the 
Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT), said DDG Wu, 
who also noted that the Chinese government is moving to establish 
law enforcement regimes for nuclear security.  In response to 
Admiral Krol's suggestion that more Asian countries, including 
 
BEIJING 00000202  002 OF 004 
 
 
Malaysia, Vietnam, and Indonesia, become involved in the GICNT, DDG 
Wu said these countries may be hesitant initially because they do 
not know how participation in GICNT will impact their sovereignty. 
Wu also said that the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) is 
still controversial and that the relationship between PSI and GI is 
unclear to many.  Wu suggested more "awareness raising" of GICNT and 
an increased management focus on current challenges, noting that the 
MFA feels burdened by the large number of GICNT events because they 
require a significant amount of interagency coordination when 
deciding whether China will participate. 
 
CAEA REMAINS KEY PARTNER IN EMERGENCY RESPONSE COOPERATION 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
¶5.  (SBU) In a separate meeting with the China Atomic Energy 
Authority (CAEA), Systems Engineering Director General (DG), TONG 
Baotong and YU Ping, the Deputy Director of CAEA's National Nuclear 
Emergency Response Office, briefed Admiral Krol on roles and 
responsibilities within the Chinese government in the event of a 
nuclear emergency.  DG Tong said that the National Nuclear Emergency 
Coordination Committee was the primary mechanism for coordinating 
China's response to a large-scale nuclear incident.  The Committee 
is made of twenty different departments from various ministries and 
organizations throughout the Chinese government.  The Minister of 
the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) serves as 
the Committee Chairman while the CAEA Chairman acts as the 
Committee's Executive Secretary and Vice Chairman.  The Committee is 
responsible for responding to emergencies at both civilian and 
military nuclear facilities, according to Tong. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) CAEA -- highly impressed with DOE/NNSA's medical 
capability to rapidly identify the specific isotope in a nuclear 
emergency (radiological triage) and respond to radiological injuries 
-- proposed detailed discussions between U.S. and Chinese medical 
teams tasked with responding to a nuclear emergency.  DG Tong 
suggested holding a seminar to explain respective medical operations 
and capabilities. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) However, efforts to convince CAEA to restart the Long 
Range Tracer Experiment (LRTE) were met more cautiously.  Admiral 
Krol noted that the U.S. and China were nearly ready to conduct the 
LRTE in 2007, but that Olympic-related nuclear security cooperation 
had resulted in the experiment being put on hold.  CAEA's Yu Ping 
said that the LRTE is a significant program and will provide 
important new tools for monitoring a radiological plume in the event 
of an accidental release from a nuclear power plant or other nuclear 
accident.  Nevertheless, CAEA is concerned over public perception of 
the experiment, particularly in light of all the new nuclear power 
plant construction occurring in China.  Despite having completed 
site selection and much of the scientific work for the LRTE, Yu said 
that a central government reorganization in 2008 and a provincial 
government reorganization in 2009 had resulted in many new faces 
within the bureaucracy and CAEA needed more time to educate the 
public and to coordinate with provincial governments.  At DG Tong's 
suggestion, DOE/NNSA agreed to work with CAEA to develop a timeline 
for restarting the tracer experiment.  [COMMENT: CAEA's cautious 
approach to the LRTE is somewhat perplexing given that they recently 
 
BEIJING 00000202  003 OF 004 
 
 
were able to coordinate a complex nationwide nuclear emergency 
response exercise (see paragraph 9). END COMMENT.] 
 
CAEA PRESSING FOR AGREEMENT AT NUCLEAR SECURITY SUMMIT 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
¶8.  (SBU) Immediately after his meeting with CAEA officials, Admiral 
Krol had a follow-on meeting with CAEA Vice Chairman and Party 
Secretary General WANG Yiren.  Wang said the U.S. proposal to hold a 
global nuclear security summit has been well received by Chinese 
leaders and in this context CAEA is looking to strengthen its 
relationship with DOE/NNSA.  Wang also said China's State Council 
has already agreed to DOE's proposal to establish a nuclear security 
center of excellence in China (see paragraph 3) and has designated 
CAEA as the lead in this effort.  CAEA already has begun making 
preparations for a demonstration center.  Moreover, it was CAEA's 
desire to have U.S. and Chinese leaders sign this agreement during 
the upcoming Nuclear Security Summit in April and designated LU 
Yongde, CAEA's Director General for International Cooperation, as 
the lead coordinator for the Chinese side.  Admiral Krol noted that 
with only three months left before the summit, it would be difficult 
to accomplish this goal in time. 
 
CHINA HOLDS FIRST NATIONAL NUCLEAR EMERGENCY EXERCISE 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
¶9.  (SBU) CAEA officials confirmed that China held its first 
national nuclear emergency exercise last November to test and 
evaluate nuclear emergency procedures.  DG Tong said the resulting 
data is still being analyzed but did not provide additional detail. 
CAEA's official website notes that the exercise took place on 
November 10 and consisted of a three-tiered effort involving 
national-level ministries, provincial government entities, and 
nuclear power plants.  It also included military participation from 
the People's Liberation Army General Staff Department.  In total, 
over 2000 people participated in the exercise.  The exercise 
simulated an accidental leak of radioactive material from a key 
reactor pipe at the Tianwan nuclear power plant in Jiangsu province. 
 CAEA invited observers from Japan and South Korea and sent a 
preliminary report detailing the exercise to the IAEA. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Admiral Krol issued a preliminary invitation to CAEA to 
observe the U.S. National Level Emergency Response Exercise that is 
tentatively scheduled for May and will take place in Nevada.  The 
"consequence management" exercise is designed to test federal and 
local emergency response following the detonation of a nuclear 
weapon in a U.S. city.  Admiral Krol noted that congressional 
authorization to hold the exercise is still pending but said DOE 
would inform CAEA if and when the date is finalized.  CAEA said that 
they would like to send observers. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
¶11.  (SBU) Following the March 2008 Chinese government 
reorganization, which left CAEA short-staffed and in seeming 
disarray for the past two years, CAEA appears to be reasserting 
itself and is looking to regain bureaucratic clout with a 
high-profile agreement with the U.S. at the upcoming global nuclear 
 
BEIJING 00000202  004 OF 004 
 
 
security summit.  During several recent meetings with CAEA, ESTHOFF 
has observed a much more confident and focused organization, which 
appears better positioned to take-on the significant challenges 
associated with China's rapidly expanding nuclear energy program. 
END COMMENT. 
 
¶12.  (U) This cable was cleared by DOE/NNSA Associate Administrator 
Admiral Krol. 
 
HUNTSMAN